THE WASTREL HOARD 



A DRAMA OF THE GREATER LOVE 



£^{SitSS!i^:;H 




BY FRANK HENDRICK 





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Copyright xN' ^^/^ 



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THE WASTREL HOARD 



All rights reserved. 



The Wastrel Hoard 

A DRAMA OF THE GREATER LOVE 



by 



Frank Hendrick 

Of the New York Bar, First Ricardo Priie 
Fellow in Harvard University 



Author of "Railway Control by Commission," "The 

Power to Regulate Corporations and Commercx," 

"The Common Law of the United States/' 

"Policies, Reaction, and the Constitution," 

"The Contribution of American Women 

to the Work of Lincoln," "The 

Adequate Man," Etc., Etc. 




'There is that in the least of mortals which is God.' 



PURITAN PLAY COMPANY 

New York 

1916 






COPYRIGHT, 1916, 
BY 

FRANK HENDRICK, 

* all rights reserved 

Set Up and Electrotyped. Published April, 1916. 



This play has been copyrighted and published in the 
United States and Great Britain. 

All rights reserved, including that of translation into 
foreign languages, including the Scandinavian. 

All acting rights, both professional and amateur, are 
reserved, in the United States, Great Britain, and all coun- 
tries of the Copyright Union, by Frank Hendrick. Per- 
formances forbidden and right of representation reserved. 
Piracy or infringement will be prosecuted in accordance 
with penalties provided by the United States Statutes. 

Sec. 4966. — Any person publicly performing or representing any 
dramatic or musical composition for which copyright has been ob- 
tained, without the consent of the proprietor of the said dramatic or 
musical composition, or his heirs or assigns, shall be liable for dam- 
ages therefor, such damages in all cases to be assessed at such sum, 
not less than one hundred dollars for the first and fifty dollars for 
every subsequent performance, as to the Court shall appear to be 
just. If the unlawful performance and representation be wilful and 
for profit, such person or persons shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, 
and upon conviction be imprisoned for a period not exceeding one 
year. — U. S. Revised Statutes, Title 60, Chapter 3. 

Persons desiring to read this play professionally or in 
public should first apply to the author. 




Ml 21 1916 



''Tliat is the most perfect popular government tvhere the 

hast injury done to the meanest individual is considered 

as an insult on the whole constitution." 

Solon. 

''The end of the hist or n of the ivorld is the formation of 
the most perfect state constitution/' 

Kant's 1'roject of Perpetual Peace. 

''Ml/ Country — is the World! My Countrymen — all 

Mankind/' 

William Lloyd Garrison. 

"We hold these truths to he self-evident, that all men 
are created equal; that they are endowed hy their Creator 
icith certain unalienable riffhts; that among these, are life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." 

The Declaration of Independence. 

Were half the power that fills the world ivith terror, 
Were half the wealth bestowed on camps and courts, 

Given to redeem the human mind from error, 
There were no need of arsenals and forts. 

Longfellow. 

^'You may build your Capitol of granite and pile it as 
high as the Rocky Mountains; if it is founded on or mixed 
up with iniquity, the pulse of a girl trnll in time beat it 
down." 

Wendell Phillips. 



TO 

EUGENE NOBLE FOSS 

Apostle of National Prohibition of the Liquor Traffic and Worker for 

National Americanism 

The wisest liberal American statesman of his time 

Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 

Three times elected without reference to partisanship 

Upon the two principles of 

"Public Control of Public Property" and "International Reciprocity" 

Who, in his annual message to the Legislature, in January, 1913, 
expressed, in defiance of the violent and almost overwhelming protests 
of the interested, prejudiced, and uninformed, the following prophetic, 
wise, and lofty sentiment: 

"I recommend that the Legislature memorialize the Congress 
to open the Panama Canal free of tolls to the ships of all 
nations as a gift of the United States to the cause of commercial 
freedom and an earnest of our purpose to lead in the movement 
for true international reciprocity and the abandonment of the 
policy of retaliation. The cost of international strain and strife 
is out of all proportion to any possible advantage; the possible 
benefits of international generosity are too great to be measured." 

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED 



PERSONS OF THE DRAMA. 

Mart Flint, an American girl. 

John Morse, a United States Senator. 

Mrs. Morse, his wife. 

Alice Morse, their da lighter. 

Russell Turner, a lawyer. 

Foster Bullard, a lobbyist. 

Samuel Flint, Mary's father. 

Victor Chance, a young multimillionaire. 

Robert Thorburn, his attorney. 

Mrs. Havorbee, a suffragette, and Victor's aunt. 

NoRAH, a maid. 

Katy, a servant. 

James, a servant. 

Hugo Gulp, telegraph operator at The Hague Tribunal. 

Sir Richard Dexter, British member of the Tribunal. 

Monsieur Ledoux, the French member. 

Baron Liebig von Speidel, the German member. 

Count Pskov, the Russian member. 

Mr. Wells, the American member. 

Mr. Spencer-Pryce, the British agent. 

Coetright, a Secret Service man. 

Musicians, (hicsts, Servants, Pages, Attendants, and 
Spectators. 



SYNOPSIS OF SCENES. 

ACT I. Music room of Senator Morse's residence in New 

York City. 
TIME: January, 1912, at half past six in the evening. 
ACT II. Same (w Act I. 

TIME: Fifteen minutes after the close of Act I. 
ACT III. Palace of Peace at The Hague. 
TIME: June 28th, 191 If, at eleven in the morning. 
ACT IV. Same as Act III. 
TIME: Immediately after the close of Act III. 
ACT V. Senator Morse's library. 
TIME: July Ifth, 191/f, at eleven in the morning. 



ACT 1. 

Before the rising of the curtain, the orchestra plays 
selections from Tosca, the ''Taian" arrangement, icith 
emphasis upon and recurrence to the grand air ''Vissi 
d'arte, vissi d'amore." 




non fi - ti mid ma- tead a-vi-nn oi-val Con mm jio' - H - ea 
tat «T-er have harm - ed • liv-mg be-ingi The poor md (U*-tra«M, 

^009 aiXdr^^con anma 




MO) . tt •b - s« - fit CO- nob-bijC' a - to'- t 
(jmc* witti-cai oaflber, by staalfli I have aid • ed. 



«. BBATTT-KIBOSTfW 



e ii i i> n— «>T if iii« »»., 



PROLOGUE. 



Here's 
to 

Motherhood ! 

Woman's salvation, happiness, and avatar, 
Source of humanity, heaven, and eternity, 
Man's inheritance from all the past 
So greater than the richest hoard 
That none with it can man afford, 
Lest hoard not man shall everlast, 
Surviving in a dead posterity, 
Lacklustered as a fallen star. 

Then- 
Here's 
to 
Motherhood I 



THE WASTREL HOARD 

ACT I. 

The curtain rises on the music room of the residence of 
United States Senator John Morse on upper Fifth Ave- 
nue, in New York City. Left and right are doors, both 
opening inward. Stage divided from right to left hy 
wall which is open from right centre to left centre, 
disclosing a banquet room. This door is off the 
centre and to the left, right and left being indicated 
from the players' viewpoint. The banquet room is upon 
a higher level, and is reached by four steps. The 
steps are carpeted with the dark green velvet car- 
pet which covers the floor of the music room. 
Heavy draperies, drawn together, shut off from view the 
banquet room, until, a few moments after the rising of 
the curtain, they are drawn aside. There is a door in 
the centre of the back of the banquet room, leading into 
the library. There is "distance" between the front of 
the stage and this door. It is half -past six in the even- 
ing of a clear moonlight night in January. At the right, 
occupying a part of the right of the back, is a deep, 
circular, bow window, equivalent almost to an alcove. 
About the window is a window-seat. Outside, window- 
boxes, planted with wintergreen plants, are visible. 
Through this window may be distinguished the tops of 
trees in Central Park and the outlines of the coping of 
the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. During 
the first, second, and fifth acts, the sound of the traffic 
of taxi-cabs, motor cars, and 'buses penetrates from 
without. In the corner at the left is a table with a tele- 
phone and an electric lamp upon it, and a high-backed 
wooden chair before it. In the centre is a circular 
divan. At the right, near the large bow window, is a 
baby grand piano, open, loith a stack of sheet music 



10 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

lying upon it. The piano faces so that the player's back 
is turned to the audience. This corner contains chairs 
and stands for a small string orchestra and is screened 
and half concealed by palms and potted plants. In 
front of these plants is a sofa. This decoration is so 
arranged that by removing one object the person seated 
at the pia7io is brought into view of the audience. The 
hinges of the doors at either side of the stage are omthe 
line of the palms. When the musicians make their en- 
trance they enter by the door at right. The entrance of 
guests or others from the left is preceded by the sound 
of an electric elevator. The necessary sound of the 
elevator returning to its station after the entrance of 
characters is not indicated in the stage directions. The 
music room is not lighted. Moonlight falls through the 
bow windoiD upon the decoration in the music 7'oom. 
As the curtain rises and a little before, just after the 
theatre orchestra has ceased playing, a sojjrano voice 
is heard, accompanied by the piano, in runs, trills, and 
warming-up exercises. Seated at the piano, but not 
visible to the audience, is Mary Flint^ a very pretty girl 
of ticenty-two. As she sings, the draperies of the door 
leading to the banquet room are drawn aside and two 
servants, James and Katy^ are seen placing small 
American flags at each place at the dining table. The 
banquet room is dimly lighted. Moonlight falls upon 
the table. The servants listen to the singing from 
time to time and exchange glances of appreciation. The 
door of the opposite side of the stage opens and Russell 
Turner, a man of thirty, enters and takes a few steps 
into the room. Throughout the play, Russell is re- 
served and self-contained. He gives the impression of 
the silent man of few words, of turbulent spirit, under 
practiced repression, overcome by bash fulness, and made 
gentle by much chastening, of impulsiveness checked by 
shyness, but of indomitable purpose and latent power. 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 



11 



In the soft speech of Russell and of Mary the acute ear 
will detect the inheritance of New England. Russell 
does not note the presence of the servants. Mary does 
not observe Russell^s entrance. One of the servants 
stealthily approaches the other, places his hand to his 
mouth, and lohispers into the other's car, at the same 
time nodding toward Russell. Russell,, perceiving 
that he is unnoticed by Mary, stoics and listens as she 
begins to sing, "Absent," by Mctcalf and Glen. She 
sings : 

A TDOpr'M''T' JOHN W METCALP. 



ICATcmi.vt rovxo eitHi 

trut. ftrmittiv 

Aadante molto. J 




"^jbe .tall trees whis- per, whis . per beart to 
cresa J 




TbUk. log I bear 



tbee caDI. 



Copyright, 1899, by Arthur P. Schmidt. Used by permission 



12 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Suddenly Mary stops and hursts into tears, hows her 
head in a manner indicating dejection, and sohs. The 
SERVANTS are all attention, and are ready to appear sym- 
pathetic if observed. Rising from the piano, Mary 
notes for the first time the presence of the servants, 
comes out and takes a few steps into the room. She is 
dressed in white. It is noticeable that her gown, though 
simple and effective, is not of the raging fashion. Mary 
is of that figure which makes an American girl who is 
neither short nor tall, slim nor stout, seem dynamic and 
dauntless. She appears to he struggling against depres- 
sion. 

Russell, I heard your voice. 

Mary, [Looking up in pleased surprise, hut speaking 
with a polite reserve horn of consciousness of the pres- 
ence of the servants.] How do you do? How is the Pacific 
Canal fight going? 

[The servants, at the sound of voices, complete their 
work hurriedly.] 

EussELL, Quite nicely, thank you. 

[Mary glances at the servatits to apprise Russell of 
their presence, and continues to speak tvith re- 
straint and for their benefit. A chime clock in 
the library hack of the banquet room is heard to 
strike once for the half-hour. A moment later a 
smaller clock strikes twice for the half -hour.] 

Mary, Are you going to have a square deal in Washing- 
ton or leave it to The Hague? 

[The departure of the servants hy a side door, not 
visible, leading from the banquet room, is indi- 
cated by the sound of closing the door.] 

Russell. The Hague! If my old friend Hugo Van 
Deventer is there, look out for a square deal ! De Groot I 
Mary. [Assured that the servants have gone.] Russell ' 



TEE WASTREL HOARD. 13 

Russell. [Restraining an impulse to show affection.] 
Mary! 

Maey. You have been away three days. 

[A clock in a room ahove, larger, it seems, strikes 
twice for the half hour.] 

Russell. I'm glad to get back. 

Mary. How did you know you would find me here to- 
night? 

Russell. I didn't. I asked the maid if I was the first 
arrival. She said you had gone upstairs. 

[A very loud chime, of the hall clock on the floor 
helow, is heard to strike once.] 

Mary. I left Alice dressing. I came down here because 
I was lonesome — then I wanted to be alone — and play 

Russell. And sing? 

Mary. My dream is of acting. 

Russell. Sing tonight. An angel may appear. 

Mary. There loill be a devil. 

Russell. It's not the Senator. 

[Mary goes up to the table and around to a seat 
facing the audience, picks up a place-card, and, 
returning, hands it to Russell.] 

Mary. The author of my being! 

Russell. Who? 

Mary. Father! Little red school mates! T^eaZ chums! 

Russell. I thought it was a friendship through their 

wives. 

Mary. That, too, but— well — mother tried just her 
level best with father— but he wore her out— and— she has 
had to give in. 

Russell. That brings you closer to her — and to Alice. 

Mary. Daughters chums at college. 

Russell. And in the big city. 

Mary. In altered circumstances. [Mary sits down on 
the sofa at the end near the piano. Russell remains stand- 



14 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

ing.] One day six months ago, I started to drag myself 
afoot up Fifth Avenue 

Russell. For exercise ! 

Mary. For want of carfare — after a whole day of man- 
agers' offices, with nothing to eat, I was going home — to 
that quaint Dutch settlement called Harlem — to cook 
for myself — a beef stew — with some of the ingredients miss- 
ing — when Alice in her auto fairly whisked me home with 
her, and, right in that room, I sat down to the best dinner 
I ever ate. 

Russell. That's Alice. 

Mary. I kept wishing it for all whose heads were ach- 
ing with hunger as mine had been. 

[Mary becomes thoughtful; Russell studies her.] 

Russell. [Sitting down beside Mary.] That was you. 

Mary. I can't forget that dinner. [Mary smiles.] I 
had received a letter from mother that morning. She urged 
me to eat regularly. [Mary smiles sadly.] If mother only 
knew! [Mary looks into Russell's eyes.] I have a con- 
stant craving for food now which makes me feel for every 
poor devil I see. It is an awful thought that lack of food 
for only a few hours makes even a strong man ill. What 
must it be to see one's children hunger ! 

Russell. [Taking Mary's hands.] One touch of hunger 
makes the whole world kin. 

Mart. [Closing her eyes and repeating dreamily, as if 
in an echo] " — the whole world kin I" [JMary opens her 
eyes and starts as if awakened.] Hunger! My hunger! 

[Expressively.] No. It is deeper than tliat [After 

a moment of searching gaze into Russell^s eyes, Mary 
turns her head away, as if in thought, then arouses herself, 
looks at Russell, and then makes a resolve to change the 
subject.] Alice Morse [Mary disengages her hands and 
rises] has certainly been a friend. 

Russell. [Rising.] In need! 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 15 

Mary. [Wistfully.] Now I have you. 

EussELL. Aud though jou live at the Junior League 
yourself, you have a plan to right the world's wrongs in 
the settlement. Philosophy for wage-earners I They need it I 

Mary. I wanted to help at father's mills. He wanted 
me to marry, a very rich, aud very reputable, and very old 
person — to assure my "great happiness I" 

KussELL. Did he? 

Mary. Yes. He wanted to make sure of my future — 
to weight me down. When life is such a wonderful thing I 
Yet the world holds it so lightly. Just think, three hun- 
dred thousand needless deaths of infants in this country 
every year. 

Russell. Father ivill approve your plan. [Mary dis- 
plays annoyance, tcalks nervously toward the banquet 
room, and examines the seating arrangement. Russell 
follows her.] It will be a good recognition scene when you 
meet. 

[Russell replaces the card and stands at the table. 
Mary and Russell talk across the table as Mary 
moves about.] 

Mary. Not exactly Lear and his dear child, Cordelia. 
You know my father does not approve of me. 

Russell. That can't be true. 

Mary. He thinks me not entirely — rational. 

Russell. Anybody would applaud your helping ^ 

Mary. My father holds as nothing the honor, comfort, 
and fate of a sex, a class, or a race that is not his own. 
That indifference is his weapon. 

Russell. That's a double-edged sword, 

Mary. And I told him there are no natural barriers be- 
tween human beings, and that I didn't recognize artificial 
ones. / disapproved of his idea of aristocracy. At bottom 
we are all alike. Americans are a composite — a neutral 
race ! Our wheels within wheels should be broken ; nature 
has none; she just enfolds us all in one great circumference I 

Russell. That's beautiful ! One great felloeship I 



16 THE WASTREL HOARD, 

Mary. But he's a professional American. And I dared 
to express disapproval of his kind of Americanism. 

Russell. Humanity is not yet a cosmopolitan senti- 
ment. It is parochial — like the tariff, a local issue. 

Mary. That shouldn't make Americans provincial. 
Good Americans distrust professionals of any race. They 
hold off and stand apart, they don't join in, they resist 
good influences, they flock by themselves, they don't get 
together, they don't assimilate. I said to father: "I have 
united in me every strain of western civilization. How 
do you expect me to harbor prejudices — or tolerate them?" 
I quoted Paul to him : "There can be neither Jew nor Greek, 
there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male 
and female; for ye are all one man in Christ Jesus." 

Russell. And that made him mad ! Like all our peo- 
ple, you can be nothing but an American. In every one of 
us is the blood of millions of ancestors. 

Mary. And that before he married mother, he hadn't a 
cent himself. Money is quickly gained and lost. 

Russell. H'm ! But what's once in the blood doesn't 
come out. It may be assumed everything is in everybody. 

Mary. Is that hopeful — or otherwise? 

Russell. Hopeful — very ! If it wasn't good blood, it 
wouldn't be here. It is heir of all the ages. 

Mary. I've known some people who felt themselves the 
heirs of a million earls. 

Russell. If they were they wouldn't be alive to tell it. 
Only three generations are required to make a man into a 
gentleman; thereafter the decline is progressive. Social 
aristocracy is like a hill of potatoes. The best part of it is 
underground. The gentleman who said America is not a 
fit country for a gentleman to live in was right ! 

Mary. Then, perhaps, I am perfectly well-born, after 
all. Father hadn't any religion either. 

Russell. That can be acquired — and abandoned. 

Mary. And now, as for having me sing, his choice 
would be from Moody and Sankey. 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 17 

Russell. He is — religious! 

Mary. Two things would bring father to New York — a 
political convention or a religious revival — and whichever 
he attends, he thinks it is the other. He's a silver-tongued 
orator and an exhorter combined. But before politicians 
he talks nothing but church, and in meeting he talks noth* 
ing but politics. 

Russell. That's not unusual. Religion and politici 
now have the same object. 

Mary. What is that? 

Russell. Politics. 

[Mary gives Russell a questioning look.] 

Mary. Politics! That is only a name! I've always 
wondered ichat this vile tissue of petty trick and intrigue 
icas concealing. Religion and politics — the bubbling caul- 
dron — always a crime-breeding mixture! 

Russell. [Avoiding the issue.] The Senator's dinners 
are not prayer meetings. 

Mary. Then the reason for your presence is purely 
political? 

Russell. No, politically pure. 

[By this time they have come together in front of 
the table. Mary looks up at Russell quickly as if 
to take advantage of a long-aioaited opening.] 

Mary. Not if Foster Bullard 

Russell. [Without conviction and attempting to con- 
veal nervousness.] Why, Bullard doesn't need me. He 
likes me. 

Mary. That doesu't sound like you. 

Russell. He saw me the day I was born — in the hos- 
pital. 

Mary. Now he has an object! I am sure of it. 

Russell. Well, everybody wants our ships exempt 
from Canal tolls. 

Mary. "Everybody," perhaps, doesn't understand it 



18 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Why didn't Bullard become a doctor and let public affairs 
alone? 

KussELL. He told me once. I asked him when I was 
planning my own career. [Russell speaks in a manner to 
he identified later as that of Bullard.] "My father was a 
physician," he said, "and would have me one. I finished 
and qualified and was ready to step into a Beacon Hill 
practice;, provided with select, even elite, patients to start 
upon, but I couldn't stand the domestic strain; I was 
near to mother; we had lived the Bible through together 
from cover to cover; by it, she judged father; Calvinist 
and Unitarian; she hadn't softened; I sided with her, and 
then, to preserve peace, left religion behind and came — to 
New York. Here my fate consigned me to obstetrics, and 
I saw in the birth of little children the alpha and omega 
of revealed religion and that all the rest was a pious fraud. 
I saw too many little creatures lost and, not being averse 
to occasional making of angels but not being just fond of 
it as a steady thing, I gave up my profession in order to 
reform it. I conceived the notion that private practice is 
wrong and left medicine for politics, in order to reform 
both. My idea was that it is as necessary for the public as 
for the individual that the individual should have good 
health and that if nobody could secure better treatment 
than anybody, everybody would soon have everything it is 
good for anybody to have. Poverty is the greatest foe to 
health, and I couldn't cure poverty by treating individuals. 
I couldn't even cure my own. That — I mean my poverty — 
lost me something else — I'll tell you what some day — and 
reform seemed hopeless. I made out soon that what ailed 
everything was politics and at about the same time I found 
that politics was an ailment I had, too. By the time I gave 
up trying to cure i)Overty by politics, my last — illusion — 
was gone. I then discerned that health is mental and 
moral as well as physical and that almost no one possessed 
it — and least of all myself. And I knew politics; where 
others dabbled, I dived. The community as a whole I 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 19 

found morbid and / left it — to its fate !" That is Low he 
advised me not to take up medicine, but to study law, and, 
to show good faith, he took up law himself at the same 
time. He really put me, in the law, where I am to-day. 

Mary. And in politics! He is not attempting a cure 
by that route I He meant himself, not politics, was failing ! 

Russell. Oh, Bullard is all right. He watched and 
warded a poor youngster for thirty years. [Russell picks 
up the card at the second place from that of Mary^s father 
and shotos it to Mary.] He's not so bad. You'll see. 
You'll meet him here tonight. He only wants a square 
deal for the interests he represents. 

Mary^. The old story. If to help me you've had to work 
with them 

Russell. [Turning the edge of her thrust as if lightly.] 
Well — somebody had to 

Mary. But 

Russell. And / wanted to. 

Mary. [Turning away from him and starting to walk to 
front of the stage.] I keep thinking there is something 
wrong about it all. I don't like this Pacific business. I 
have had many talks with Senator Morse. He has told 
me 

Russell. [Gutting in on her speech as if unioilling to 
hear, and looking down at another place-card.] Foster 
Bullard knows young Chance, too. 

Mary. [Pretending not to have heard him.] — that this 
canal completes for the first time a direct water-path across 
the world. 

Russell. [Looking down at another card.] Is it to 
meet the suffrage leader? 

Mary. The Canal? 

Russell. Victor Chance? 

Mary. No. Mrs. Havorbee is his aunt. It is Alice. 

Russell. He was here that day I first saw you. 

Mary. Do you know him? 

Russell. Bullard says we met under his care our first 



20 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

day apart from our parents. You know Bullard says hi$ 
name [Raising the place-card] is on my certificate. 

Mary. [With covert interest.] Did you ever examine 
the record? 

Russell. No. Besides, they are secret. The law forbids 
disclosure — except to parents. The law takes notice of the 
fact that the world is a natural busybody. [ Thoughtfully. ] 
What it doesn't know, hurts nobody. 

[Mary hesitates a moment and seems to weigh thi$ 
information and to determine to change the sub- 
ject.] 

Mary. Had you and Victor Chance never met in the 
meantime? 

Russell. Our paths parted then and there. Each was 
returned to his respective mother. 

Mary. But in thirty years ! 

Russell. Caste! 

Mary. You both went to college. That brings boys to- 
gether. 

Russell. Study was of his life a thing apart. 

Mary. It was your whole existence, wasn't it? 

Russell. I doubt if he knew ten men outside of Keys. 

Mary. That secret society business is carried pretty 
far at Yale. 

Russell. And, of course, living for and on free scholar- 
ships at Harvard, I was worlds removed from his set. 

Mary. But that shouldn't continue afterward. 

Russell. It is worse. That is what it's for. I was 
further away than ever. He took the high road and I took 
the low road. 

Mary. Why didn't you speak of it that day? 

Russell. Most improper! And I thought he admired 
you. 

Mary. Baby ! He has too many millions 

Russell. There you have it. But Bullard had my 
picture taken on my second birthday and gave it to me in 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 21 

this locket. [Russell takes a locket from Jtis icatch-chain, 
opens it, and hands it to Mary.] BuUard didn't grow away 
from me! 

Maey. What a glorious child ! Give it to me ! 

Russell. But you would never accept jewelry. 

Mary. But this is my gem, isn't it? 

Russell. If you will accept it. 

[Russell helps Mary to place the locket upon a 
chain she tvears about her neck.] 

Mary. [Examining the locket.] July 4th, 1881. And 
two American beys! Both free and equal! But orphans! 
But you two boys are now once more where you started, 
both orphans. Your parents and "Golden" Chance and 
his sweet wife — all dead! 

Russell. Bullard makes me forget that. 

Mary. By absorbing your talent and Chance's money. 
Benevolent assimilation like this Pacific business ! 

Russell. You — are not — to blame — for that! 

[Russell replaces Bullard^s card and followi 
Mary. His attitude is playful and Mary assumes 
the same manner. They come down into the music 
room, walking side hy side, facing the audience.] 

Mary. I — thought — I — had to have — things to wear. 

Russell. Or give up. 

Mary. And obey my father ! 

Russell. Perhaps you don't go at him right. 

Mary. He wounded my pride. That is the worst hurt ! 

Russell. Pride can be made an inexpensive luxury. 
There is a saving pride as well as that which "goeth before 
a fall." 

Mary. He refused to support my ambition. He gave 
ten thousand dollars to the church, just to prove that it 
wasn't mean. "By the ever-living God," he shouted, "not a 
dollar will I contribute to send my daughter into danger." 
He's wonderful when he gets fired up like that. He's great- 
est when he has [Mary imitates; she comes a step forward 



22 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

raises her right arm in gesticulation, turns on Russell and 
addresses him as her audience] "the whole country march- 
ing onward to the time of 'Hail Columbia' and the tune of 
'Home, Sweet Home.' " [Lowering her voice.] He's the 
handsomest and the hardest man I ever saw. 

Russell. He is your father. It must be wonderful to 
have one's parents living! / scarcely remember my par- 
ents. A father 

Mary. Mine was my king — until he tried to rule me. 

Russell. [Baffled^ hut trying to appear sympathetic] 
He thinks your purpose frivolous. 

Mary. A father who thinks is lost. 

Russell. And if he doesn't? 

Mary. On the one occasion when father demonstrated 
real affection for me, I almost swooned with delight. I had 
to buy my freedom. I taught in Sunday School, played the 
organ, led the singing, and sang solos for a whole season of 
revival, and did everything about the church but preach 
the sermons, as the price of permission to come to New 
York to study for the stage. Father feared local criticism 
and tried to back out, so I had to run away. And now I'm 
not going home until I have justified myself. 

Russell. Beware of the fixed idea. 

Mary. [With an air of finality.] A good idea can*t be 
too fixed. [She sits down on the sofa.] Father would be 
the first to boast of my success. He says he denies me 
money now so that he may leave me well provided for when 
he's gone. Great Heavens ! Why must so many fly through 
life with a broken wing ! The man can*t understand what 
it means. 

[Maby buries her face in her hands. Russell tits 
down on the sofa, beside Maby.] 

Russell. What does it mean? 

Mary. It means that daughters like me have essentials 
in common with all the disinherited of the earth — we are 
thwarted of our ambitions, our lives, our — possibilities — 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 23 

just to please those who have had theirs. Father met a 
girl once, when he took me, as a half-grown girl, to inspect 
Galloway Hall, where Alice and I were to go, as our 
mothers had before us — and this girl's mother, too. [Rus- 
sell evinces increasimj interest.] And he forever after 
held her up to me as a model. She had no parents; they 
had both died young — both from the heart, I believe 
mother said. Father knew them, too. He couldn't under- 
stand that I was the opposite of their girl in everything, 
and couldn't pattern myself upon her. She was sweet 
but inanimate and her skin was like alabaster. She 
seemed to me all surface — that appeals to father — it does 
to most men — and, without really knowing the girl, just 
from father's praise and my notion she wasn't — true, — 
a real — flesh -and-blood — live girl, I grew up resenting and 
almost hating the very name of Laura Lord, [Russell 
starts upon heating the name; Mary does not take note] 
and wishing fervently that she might be transported to a 
better world than this, to be a model for the other angels. 
Russell. Please him now. Be diplomatic. Be a singer. 

[Mary looks up and smiles at Russell.] 

Mary. Melba? I say, Duse. The New York climate 
isn't favorable for American singers. I would have my 
lieart only upon the very highest I Think of the disappoint- 
ment I What's the use of trying I Besides, I prefer acting. 
Consciousness of tragic situations dominates me. 

Russell. But there's acting in music. Sometimes the 
singer seems radiant with light and fairly dissolves into 
the meaning. 

Mary. [Kindled.] Always with our lovely Brenstedt! 
Then all nature seems a temple that is within us, alight 
with living pillars, where wondrous rainbow flashes, sound- 
ing as from watch-towers of the world's experience, enter 
the dark recesses of our being, lay bare our hearts, bring 
out the hidden motives of the soul, and light up for us, as 
if for our inward eye, the whole panorama of human life. 



24 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

I sometimes feel that if I am — ever — stirred to the depths, 
this great power to act in music may come to me. 

EussELL. Isn't it worth while to move toward that ob- 
ject? 

Mary. A bird mnst hop before it learns to soar. [Be- 
coming thoughtful.] Miss Chrysalis comes before Madame 
Butterfly. 

BussELL. But even when a bird is walking, we know 
it has wings. 

Mary. [Coming out of her reverie.] I've had a hard 
time to get where I am today, and I'm not going to give it 
up. Please, tell me that you think I will succeed. 

Russell. The first thing I ever told you was that I be- 
lieved in you. 

Maey. But you wanted to encourage me. Being an 
understudy is not inspiring. 

Russell. The world's work is done by understudies. 
If it wasn't for the working undersecretaries nothing 
would go right. It's the big bugs that make the big blun- 
ders. Every important interest depends upon the man just 
below the man higher up. He prepares to do that man's 
work — by always doing it. 

Mary. What about that man? 

Russell. He is not a man. He is only money. He is 
the underwriter. 

Mary. I see it, now! He's the politics! You work for 
money — ^you think for money — you lorite for others to 

Russell. You mustn't talk like that. [The telephone 
rings. Russell goes to answer it. He turns on the electric 
lamp. Maey watches him, walks to him at the telephone, 
and returns to her seat before the end, always thoughtful.] 
Hello. Yes, Mr. Bullard. This is Russell. Calling me? 
Didn't you think I was in Washington? Your informa- 
tion service is certainly perfect. Every agency in the world 
retained? Oh! Not to find out anything? For others? 
Yours is adequate for you, all right. Well, I finished my 
work there; it was useless to wait around — I did what X 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 25 

went for. I took up the Pacific argument with Count Al- 
berg, went over the new documents and the list of members 
under German influence. We went over the whole situa- 
tion and decided how to proceed. I called at the Baldwin- 
Smythes' and left the papers with the social secretary. 
I then gave each of the other Ambassadors the ar- 
gument agreed upon, and two to the Papal delegate, 
one for use with Catholics from the Continent, and 
one for Irish-Americans. I hammered the argument 
home in each case. What's that? Oh, "trifles make 
perfection." Well, I was thorough enough. We manu- 
factured original news dispatches from every capital 
in Europe for every day in the next thirty. Boiler-plate? 
— Yes ! — A month's supply for a hundred million people ! — 
Patent insides — that's it ! — Yes ! — For the heads of the 
dear public! I arranged for more press matter than can 
be used in a month. I had it translated for the foreign 
press into twenty-seven languages for papers reaching 
one-half of the voting population of the United States, 
with head-lines for those under subsidy — Divide and 
rule? — Yes. — That seems to be the idea. — And I saw to 
the mailing of data to every educator on our list with in- 
structions to those under retainer. If it had been neces- 
sary to stay longer, I should have done so. — All right — 
I'll be here. — Good-bye! [Russell puts up receiver, walks 
hack to the sofa, holding his chin in his right hand.] He 
said it would be all right. He always says that. He is a 
sort of fatalist. [Sitting down beside Mary.] Yet, he ap- 
peared displeased because I came back. 

Mary. But it won't be all right. Things are never right 
unless people make them right. 

[Mary rises; Russell follows suit.'[ 

Russell. What ! 

Mary. I want to know who's behind Bullard. Who is 
underwriting him? 

RussEivL. I never asked him. 



26 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Mart. I'm going to find out. There is something 
wicked going on and you are helping. I know you are 
working in the dark, but you shouldn't be willing to. You 
have been understudy long enough. After what you have 
done all by yourself, you ought to be ashamed to accept 
money to stay outside — in the lobby. Be yourself, go into 
the fight, and try to be a leader ! 

[Mary sits down; Russell sits beside her.] 

Russell. Your leading man? Is that an aspiration? 

]\1ary. No. The country's leading man. Put some 
heart into American citizenship. Take that dash out. 

Russell. Dash? — H'm! — The snobbish hyphen! — Or, 
perhaps, the alien? They all keep people apart! 

Mary. Both ! 

Russell. But — the feminist hyphen? [Half pleading, 
half mocking, half offering.] Don't be heartless, Mary. 

[Mary^s eyes flash loith a suddenly acquired reso- 
lution. ] 

Mary. I do not intend to marry! 

Russell. Every girl If there were no marriages 

there'd be no race. 

Mary. That doesn't follow. The modern girl's great 
impulse is to become the best she is fit for. 

Russell. A tadpole or a tyrant could make the same 
plea. TJicy are — equally — divine and immortal. [With 
tremendous seriousness.] I wish you Avere out of it all. 

Mary. Freed through marriage? [Rising] Emanci- 
pated as a daughter only "to dwindle into a wife!'' [Rus- 
sell rises.] I am independent now. I'm directing my own 
affairs — and some of yours, too. 

Russell. You should let me depend upon my own ef- 
forts 

Mary. Stand on your own feet. Quit Bullard. 

Russell. I can't quit until the Pacific Bill is passed. 

Mary. Why, that very measure should bring you to the 
people's side. Give Bullard his answer tonight! 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 27 

Russell. And you? Where does the stage fit in this 
scheme? 

Mary. Well, you haven't understood me yet. You 
think my desire to act is merely vanity, 

Russell. What else is there in it? 

Mary. Why, j)atriotism — downright patriotism — in the 
stage, as it interests me. I see not the individual but ag- 
gregate humanity, and I see acted language as the breath 
of life. I would make the stage communicate images of 
eocial life. I've always lived in an atmosphere of politics 
and public questions, voiceless, yet never heard any matter 
considered from a point of view a girl could accept. It's 
that I wish to express. I am sure there is need for it. The* 
human nature that is now mirrored — in a dirty mirror, that 
reflects only the surface dimly — as cheap and vulgar and 
revolting, is not what is deep within us. The reflection 
should light up and mirror in rays that the impure cannot 
withstand. The stage is the only place where a woman's 
individuality is recognized, and where she can really be 
her bigger self. The stage should reflect the girl's vision. 
It is the only open avenue for a woman who would be a 
leader of public opinion. 

Russell. I don't see that. 

Mary. If there hadn't been actors, there wouldn't have 
been any Shakespeare, would there? Or any other of the 
great plays? There never was a great play that didn't 
sound the depths of human suffering and in defiance of all 
else argue the divine cause of humanity. The playwright 
must write for the players who can vitalize his play and 
make him really see his people and hear his written words 
made flesh and blood and thus get his message over to the 
public. The woman's message never has been, but must be 
expressed. Stage women who see and feel the times may 
inspire our drama and, thus, guide the public. Isn't that 
wielding personal power? Isn't that what your own under- 
writers pay for? What other excuse for existence has the 
theatre of a great nation than to express national aspira- 



28 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

tions! I don't see the goal clearly yet, but — [Closing her 
eyes as if in delight] I have had my vision and I'm groping 
toward the light. [Mary opens her eyes and looks at Rus- 
sell. She pauses as if confronted with a choice between 
the vision she has just recalled and another. RussEll 
studies her with awakened interest. Mary gives a sign of 
having made her choice. Russell seems crestfallen. Mary 
proceeds with an air of being resolute.] I'll keep on until 
I find it. But I'll not sell out the public as the men do. 
[Mary speaks more softly.] Art can never be selfish. The 
dramatic form is the supreme test of a social idea, and its 
best vehicle. The theatre should be made so useful that all 
the churches could be closed and turned into playhouses 
for the public good. "On the level" patriotic preaching 
hasn't been a monologue since the time of Aeschylus — 
twenty-four hundred years ago. Perhaps — if I make a 
success on the stage — I'll 

[Mary walks to the piano and sits down. Russell 
follows and stands near her, bending over the 
piano at the curve and facing the audience. In 
getting to this position he arranges the decoration 
so that Mary becomes visible to the audience. As 
she sings, in turning to look up at Russell, from 
time to time, she half faces the audience.] 

Russell. [Eagerly.] Will you? 

Mary. [Half seriously, half coquettishly.] Work for 
the other thing. [She gives him a look of tenderness.] At 
any rate, you have made me feel — that I must keep up my 
music, too. 

Russell. [Standing icith eyes intent upon her, as if 
slowly absorbing her thought.] What a big woman you 
are, and what a blind fool I've been ! I ought to be ashamed 
of myself. 

Mary. You're a dear. 

[She runs over the first bars of ''0 Belle 'Nuit," and 
sings to throw off his gaze.] 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 29 

Lovely night, oh, night of love, 
Smile down on our caresses, 
Kight more lovely than the day, 
Lovely night of love. 
Time flies on without return, 
And carries our embraces, 
Far from this most happy hour, 
To come again nevermore. 
Soft summer-night breeze. 
Fold us in with your kisses. 
The balm of your breath 
On our foreheads let play. 
Lovely night, oh, night of love. 
Smile down on our caresses, 
Night more lovely than the day, 
O lovely night of love. 

Russell. You're always like that to me. 

Mary. It's your own work ! [She observes that he is 
ngain in a spell] You came into my life in the harmony of 
my favorite theme — from Schumann's Sonata in F sharp 
minor. Fate put you on my telephone, while I was playing 
it in a dream. I saw a rushing waterfall and heard the 
tinkling sound of water falling from a great height. 

tntermetto. 

Lento. aJlatarla, ma pompon 




[Mary plays the theme, the eight bars and the first 
three bars and the first note of the fourth re- 
peated.] 
The bell rang at the high note and I saw you standing 



30 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

on the edge of the precipice and almost heard your voice 
before I awoke. It was one of Fate's splendid blunders. 
My heart opened to you, and to a new world at the sound 
of your voice. 

[She unconsciously runs over "Mon coeur s'ouvre a 
ta voix" from "Samson and Delilah."] 

Russell. When we met a moment in the hall down- 
stairs here next day, I knew your voice. 

Mary. And I yours. And you had remembered that 
wrong number. I did dream true ! 

Russell. And I called it again. 

[Mary sings at first softly, then louder. Russell 
arouses himself, walks around so as to stand be- 
side her, comes gradually into the singing, and 
they end together.] 

Mary. 

My heart expands at thy loved voice, 

As flowers at dawn of day ; 

Bpeak on and make my soul rejoice 

And all my fears allay. 

Tell me once more that thou hast come 

To bless Delilah's love ; 

And never more will from her roam. 

Answer — my love — my love. 

Joys — more than heaven above 

Await our happy love, 

[Singing together.] 

Mary. Samson! Samson! I love thee! 
Russell. Delilah! Delilah! I love thee! 

[Mary rises from the piano.] 

Russell. [He draws her to him, and exclaims.] You're 
not a girl. 

[Alice appears at the left of the "banquet room and 
walks to the edge of the stairs. Her gown is pure 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 31 

white and, in the dim light, she comes upon the 
scene as if an apparition. As she sees Russell 
and Mary she stoi)s suddenly, confused, and as 
if not knoiving what to think or do. She walks 
backward quickly, looking toward Russell and 
Mary only to see that she is not observed, and 
disappears at the left side of the banquet room.] 

Russell. [Softly, in a very human tone.] You're a 
goddess ! 

Mary. [Not resisting.] I'm not. [Russell embraces 
her.] Ob! [Mary struggles.] Oh! [The telephone 
rings. ] Oh ! — Oh ! — [The telephone rings.] Oh ! ! [Mary 
disengages herself from Russell's embrace.] Oh!!! You 
shouldn't have kissed me like that. You haven't since then. 
[Mary shuts her eyes and shudders.] You must promise 
not to. 

Russell. I do promise. It's three months since — that 
— seashore — summer night. 

Mary. And you have been good. 

Russell. That was my last glass of wine. 

Mary. And my frst and last. And — you've seen me 
almost every day. You've been so good to me. 

Russell. I can't bear to think of all this ending. 

[The telephone rings. Mary and Russell stati; to- 
ward the telephone.] 

Mary. I'd better answer. [She takes the telephone and 
listens. Turning to Russell.] It's Alice Morse. [Pointing 
to the door.] No, wait. Be quiet. Don't breathe. [Mary 
sits down before the telephone; Russell stands near, tuatch- 
ing her and listening. The door at right, near the piano, 
opens, and Dullard half enters, but icithdraws before he 
is observed, and holds the door ajar so that he may listen 
and be seen by the audience. His apparent desire is to know 
when to enter after the telephone call is finished. Mary 
and Russell have their backs turned. Bullard is carrying 



32 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

his overcoat on his arm and his hat, walking stick, and 
gloves in his hand. He gives a slight indication of being 
intoxicated. To telephone.] Hello! Is that you, Alice? 
Yes. This is Mary. — No, I'll come up to you. There isn't 
anyone down here yet. You heard the piano? — Of course, 
I was playing and singing. — Yes, that loas Mr. Turner. He 
was just passing through and stopped a moment to join in. 
He said he thought ijou might be here. No. Don't come 
down. — I think he went downstairs — to the parlor. Of 
course, I'm not avoiding you. Oh, I know you look wonder- 
ful. Will you? You're a sweetheart. Yes, dear. Good-bye. 
Good-bye. 

[Mary pauses a moment in thought and then turns 
around quickly to face Russell.] 

Russell. You're a born diplomat. Literally honest I 
You ought to be sent abroad to lie for your country. 

Mary. [Not noticing what he has said, Mary speaks as 

if her tongue were thick and dry.] If it kills me to tell 

[Mary hows her head. Bullard assuiJies the attitude of 
unwillingness to hear and closes the door. He has not seen 
Mary or Russell, hut has heard their voices. Mary looks 
up at Russell.] For years we two girls hadn't an un- 
shared thought. And — now — if I, why not she ! — If there 
is anything between you two — she must know from me. 

Russell. But there isn't, and never can be. 

Mary. You came here! [Thinking.] Victor! 

Russell. Senator Morse pressed me to. And I hoped 
he would you. My wish was gratified. 

Mary. [As if satisfied.] I haven't any jealousy in me. 

Russell. / have. [Drawing his hand across his fore- 
head.] You are spared evil dream.s. 

Mary. And Alice has — and every other woman. 

Russell. [Taking Mary^s i^ight hand.] I have waited 
for you to bring love into my life. I can't let you go now. 

[Mary withdraws her hand.] 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 33 

Mary. There might be a reason — if I told you. 

Russell. [Not catching her meaning.] You would say 
that every reason existed. Love is a higher reason. I have 
tried to resist. But the higher wisdom prevailed. It seems 
to me now the most natural thing in the world. I feel that 
Tou belong to me. 

Mary. That's why / can't tell you. 

Russell. What? 

[Mary rises and faces Russell.] 

Mary. That I do 

Russell. You mean ? 



[She speaks calmly and tenderly.] 

Mary. Love without marriage is better than marriage 
without love. 

Russell. If you knew 

Mary. If you knew 

Russell. My marriage 

Mary. [Startled.] What marriage? 

Russell. Y''ou should have known that ten years ago I 
married without love. 

Mary. It isn't true ! Tell me it isn't true ! 

Russell. [Penitently.] It has taken me too long to 
tell you that it is. After four years we separated. 

Mary. [Hopefully awaiting the sequel.] Y'es ! 

Russell. [Conscious of disappointing her.] There are 
two little girls. The mother has been wasting away 

from [As if brooding.] A deep personal sorrow 

struck across — her — life. 

Mary. [Sadly.] Why didn't you tell me? 

Russell. I kept trying 

Mary. [Sitting doicn before the table and resting her 
arm upon the back of the chair and bowing her head.] Why 
didn't somebody tell me? 

Russell. We have scarcely given occasion. 

Mary. There couldn't have been a chance! 



34 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

[Russell hends over Mary.] 

Russell. It has been a miracle. This has all grown 
upon me. It went on from the first day we met and then it 
was too late. There is a side — I felt I hadn't the right to 
tell. — If you had known, you would not have let me help 
you. And soon I could not let anybody say that you had 
known. The problem was too much for me. I kept think- 
ing of life without you, and I was afraid. I wanted to help 
you from a distance, but — I was so thoughtless — I kept 
right on ! 

[Mary looks up at Russell.] 

Mary. Perhaps, I might not have been strong enough. 
There's something carrying me onward, too. I am trying 
not to make it hard. Perhaps — we — love one another — be- 
cause we — are — weak. 

Russell. To know yon and then to lose you! 

Mary. It is I who should say that. Many a night have 
I gone down on my knees and thanked the God who sent 
you to me that you had come into my life. Yours was the 
first great sympathy. 

Russell. But you can't now ? 

Mary. Now, more than ever. When you came I was 
starving for honest companionship in this great city. But 
you have meant more. To have had the true love of such a 
man as you and to have but one man in my life and that the 
right one — no woman could ask more. 

Russell. You're so good to tell me that. 

Mary. [Very sadly. "[ But I must go away, Russell. 

Russell. You (fon'f mean that! 

Mary. Yes — [Risincf] — T mean just that. [Looking him 
squarely in the eyes, remainina silent a moment, and then 
speaking slowly. Her mouth seems to twitch a moment 
before the utterance of sound.] I won't see you again, 
and I won't accept anything from you. Whether the other 
woman has lost you or not, is not for me to judge. No 
matter who she is or what she may have done, I should 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 35 

never knowingly have taken away her slightest chance, 
and — [shuddering]— whatever the cost — I'll not do it now. 
I asked no questions and I made the mistake — just exactly 
as father said I should. I lore you. I have never loved 
anyone else, and now I never can. You are everything 
to me, — more than you can know. And I can't give you 
np. But 

Russell. You needn't. And soon we may let the 
world know ■ Let them talk who would! 

Mary. Kow the world must never know — the nat- 
ural, destructive busybodies [Becomes dramatic] 

And I can't care what they would think. Let them have 
their proprieties and their dull domesticity — the hum- 
drum, inexorable staleness of the nnoscapablo sox-thrall 
of contiguous lives — which they call happiness, those who 
are willing to pay the price. I have loved — I have not lost. 
I have felt and 71010 I can make others feel. I have been 
inspired and now I can inspire. I'll commence now with 
you, and from that I'll grow and broaden. I can be thank- 
ful that I am a witless girl no longer — I have lived, and I 
shall suffer — as only a woman can — and then I shall knoro 
how to bring tears to my own and others' eyes, tears of 
joy, and love, and sympathy. I'll stir a common heartbeat 
of the people. [Becomes natural] Perhaps — [The door 
at the left opens and Bullard is seen. He appears to recog- 
nize the voice he had heard at the door at the right, and to 
realize that his ivandering search 7ias only brought him^ to 
the other side of the trrong room] — it will be music after 
all, and Europe, too. It begins to seem — [Bullard draws 
the door closed and disappears] — necessary and natural 
and best. Why do you always get your way? [The sound 
of the elevator indicates that it is descending from the 
floor above.] Thus to attain the self-loss that is art! Rus- 
sell, dear, T believe there's something good in all this. 

[She runs out at door at right. Russell stands and 
stares. The door at the left oprns.] 



36 TEiJ WASTREL HOARD. 

Russell. [As if awakening from a dream.] Mary ! 

[Enter Senator Morse and Mrs. Morse from door 
at left. They are old-fashioned Yankees who have 
risen to leadership hy remaining Yankees and 
keeping their feet on the ground. They have seen 
Mary without Mary or Russell knowing. They 
exchange glances, agreeing upon ignoring what 
they have seen. Senator Morse goes to a wall 
button and turns on the lights. They act as if 
only the turning on of the lights had disclosed 
Russell's presence. Russell starts in surprise 
at the lights and turns around to learn the cause.] 

Senator Morse. Hello, Russell. Glad to see you. 

Russell. How do you do, Senator. I hope you are 
well, Mrs. Morse? 

Mrs. Morse. How have you been? Always saving the 
nation, I suppose. 

Senator Morse. Saving the nation from the attacks of 
the people, I'm afraid. That's a common occupation, now- 
adays. Too common. 

Russell. We put it this way, that the people need to be 
saved from their public servants. 

Senator Morse. That's the way Bui lard puts it, no 
doubt. Alice said you were down here with Mary. 

Russell. Yes. 

Senator Morse. A fine girl, that. Strong character, 
good family. 

Mrs. Morse. We can't see enough of her — but she's been 
keeping away from us these three months. 

Senator Morse. I've known Sam Flint for fifty years. 
And, as a boy, I knew the father — old Deacon Phineas 
Flint — he takes after. Sam's a psalm-singing Progressive, 
but a splendid fellow. You'll like him, and I think he'll 
like you. Typically American ! Uncle Sam — we call him. 

Russell. Yes. I should like him. 



TEE WASTREL HOARD. 37 

Mrs. Morse. And Mary's mother is such a dear. [Smil- 
ing.] She's a sort of cousin of mine. 

Russell. [Smiling in response.] That explains it. 

Mrs. Morse. Thank you. She's been an invalid these 
last few years. Mary's got quite away from her — and — 
Sam hasn't been much of a mother to Mary. 

Russell. Naturally. 

Mrs. Morse. What Mary needs is the influence of a 
strong man; some one stronger than she. 

Senator Morse. I'm afraid such men are rare. 

Mrs. Morse. She ought to marry and settle down. I've 
told her so, often — but she doesn't seem to care for anyone. 

Senator Morse. She'll come out all right. Get to know 
her well, Russell, she's a tonic. Just what you need. 

Russell. Come now, Senator, am I so heavy as all 
that? 

Senator Morse. Well, you let your troubles bother you 
too much. You've been honorable about it all. The world 
doesn't ask you to mope around all your life. 

Mrs. Morse. You have forgiven her. 

Russell. When she came to me six years ago — [The 
chimes in the lihrary strike once for the third quarter] — 
and asked me to forgive her, I said that no act of any wom- 
an ever depended on a man's mercy for its justfication. I 
Relieved that then ; I know it now. 

[The small clock in the lihrary strikes three timet 
for the quarter hour.] 

Mrs. Morse. But you pardoned — the lie — the decep- 
tion 

Russell. That was not for me to do. 

Senator Morse. It has been a severe discipline for yon. 

Russell. Until a man has learned to suffer for a 
woman, he has not proved himself her equal. 

Mrs. Morse. You could help that girl. She needs 
friends, especially your kind. 



38 THE WAISTUEL HOARD. 

[The clock above strikes three times.] 

Russell. We all need friends. 

Senator Morse. And she'd do you a lot of jijood. Your 
present situation is unnatural; few men could stand up 
under it— without a wrenching of character and a warping 
of their very souls. 

[The clock below strikes once.] 

Mrs. Morse. I'll warrant she'd take you away from 
Foster Bullard. 

Russell. And my income? — their income? 

Senator Morse. That's Bullard's bait. I've seen him 
ruin many a promising man with his money. He has au- 
thority to draw on his principals for any amount without 
notice — on the remotest chance of benefit to them. Most 
of his victims and accomplices are unconscious that they 
are working for him. He gets people to use corrupt money 
without suspicion as to its source. 

Mrs. Morse. He's a bad influence. Everybody knows 
it, but nobody dares to cut him. 

Russell. He's a very agreeable man. 

Mrs. IMorse. That kind all are. By irresistibly se- 
ductive courtesies — they conceal the — cloven hoof. 

[Mrs. Morse goes to eramine the seating arrange- 
ments. Russell talks at first as if to both Mrs. 
Morse and Senator Morse, but gradually becomes 
engrossed in his talk to Senator Morse.] 

Senator Morse. He knows something about every- 
body, — who is anybody. 

Mrs. Morse. He is good looking — [Smiling] — resem- 
bles you. 

Russell. Thank you I 

Mrs. Morse. But that gives him no right to ruin yon. 

Senator Morse. He knows something about everybody. 
That's how he gets in. He keeps a card catalogue of every 
heir to more than fiftv thousand dollars. 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 39 

Russell. He knows something about everything, and he 
has brains. He began his law studies at fifty. That spells 
purpose. 

Senator Morse. No doubt about that. It was he who 
taught Merwin to cultivate heirs, ally them to his system, 
and hand them paper in exchange for their legacies. His 
organization is as perfect as that of the lost-heir grafters. 
He's really the King of Confidence Men. 

Russell. I am sorry I asked you to invite him. 

Senator Morse. It just suits my plan. To conciliate 
me he'll talk. I've wished for a long time to get the real 
Bullard to show himself to you — the man of brains who 
sins against the light. 

Russell. You have me here — because I haven't brains. 

Senator Morse. Nonsense, my boy. My belief in you is 
absolute. 

Russell. I appreciate that from you. It is enough in 
itself to make a man. 

Senator Morse. All a good many folks want is just 
believing in them. 

Russell. But some require a good deal? 

Senator Morse. Not you. In your case it is not only 
my good will; it is my judgment of you. Bullard knows 
well enough you have brains, but 7 have you here often be- 
cause you have character. 

Russell. Don't the two go together? 

Senator Morse. Not in most people. Crooked wisdom 
is the commonest kind. Brainy men often don't know 
enough to go straight. 

Russell. They haven't that quality of brains. 

Senator Morse. Well, that's the only kind worth hav- 
ing. Some day people will stop praising the sharp and 
worthless man just because he gets away with it. You can 
prove your quality by breaking with Bullard. He's 
the creator of the worst thing in America — the religion of 
the pocket-book — esprit de corps among the rich. 



40 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Russell. Yet some days, when he is moody, he goes 
on as if the rich man was to him a fiend incarnate. f 

Senator Morse. One crossed him many years ago. 

Russell. Money ? 

Senator Morse. A woman. Bullard would have made 
her great. They were both from Boston — a thing no native 
ever got over during his natural life — and each had an 
obsession. He gave up everything to follow her to New 
York, She was the one generous passion of his life. 

Russell. Did they quarrel? 

Senator Morse. For the moment — and in a fit of pique 
— he believed she would be great and — well, she thought, I 
suppose, he expected too much faith from her. 

Russell. The other man — was rich? 

Senator Morse. Immensely. Sweet Lily Earle — a 
beautiful creature — he could dictate to the theatre — and, 
he could gratify at once her great ambition. 

Russell. To lead — to star — the most gripping of pas- 
sions — and — 

Senator Morse. Well — Chance came upon her like a 
cyclone ; the newfound friend married her the day they met- 

Russell. That was sudden! A whirlwind courtship I 

Senator Morse. She was a singer — a poor girl. Chance 
made her suddenly rich and permanently miserable. I 
remember it well. It was just after our marriage — in 
October of 1880. I was trying the famous Harward mur- 
der case, and young Dr. Bullard was to be a witness, but 
he was so rattled, I couldn't put him on. A few days later, 
I learned the reason, when I went with Mrs. Morse to 
Haverly's Fifth Avenue Theatre to see Sweet Lily Earle 
in Anna E. Dickinson's great hit, "An American Girl." 
There, in a box, resplendent, sat Chance, master of the 
ceremonies. In the box opposite, were General Garfield 
and "Chet" Arthur, Republican candidates for 

Russell. You say "chance". Do you mean ? 

Senator Morse. I mean Victor's father. 

Russell. I've never heard Bullard speak of that! 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 41 

Senator Morse. You never will. His rage for a time 
was terrible, but — well — time softens every grief — and she 
has been dead — [Kussell's look darkens^ — many years. 

EussELL. But it's certain he still lives on that memory. 

Senator Morse. To me his reckless course attests the 
depth of his attachment. It has stirred up his real self. 

Russell. You are right. Since / met — well, you know, 
at college I got to know the sons of the rich pretty well in a 
certain way. I tutored a good many, among them some 
crown prices of the money power. One in particular was 
sent to me by his father to be taught to write. At twenty 
Junior could scarcely write his own name legibly. In the 
next room to me was a boy who in winter had to sit upon a 
table with the gas lighted so as to study without freezing. 

Senator Morse. The hard student's a success, I'll bet. 

Russell. He's a fine bank clerk now — with neither cap- 
ital nor a union card — a member of the great American 
framed-up cultured middle class, whose learning and fine 
traditions profit them only to sharpen the sense of their 
own helplessness. 

Senator Morse. Well, the pampered pet is a failure. 

Russell. Again the old order changeth. "Three gen- 
erations from shirt-sleeves to shirt-sleeves" is a worn-out 
adage, and should he decently buried. My pupil's signa- 
ture is good for millions any day and he passes on the 
credit of business houses aggregating billions. 

Senator Morse. One more guess — inherited qualities. 

Russell. In a way. The failure's father pioneered in 
the West. The other's harvested in Wall Street. Equality ! 
This 'rah! 'rah I and haw! haw! business is all right for 
boys, but it dulls our sense of true values and it has spread 
to all classes and all ages. Our so-called wholesome he- 
roics are about the same as heroin and have the same effect 
— to breed fatalists and foster barbarians. I am begin- 
ning to feel that it contains a great menace. 

Senator Morse. It is still possible in tliis country of 



42 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

opportunity for a poor boy to rise by sheer ability to great 
Avealth and power. 

KussELL. That possibility doesn't encourage the suc- 
cessful to let the boys who inherit that ability start with 
that chance. Our people overlook that luminous circum- 
stance ! 

Mrs. Morse. Our people are very intelligent, I think. 
They always vote right at elections. 

Russell. Elections ! Why, all the fool voters get now at 
elections is a rain-check for the next election. 

Senator Morse. Well, all can't be political philoso- 
phers. "We cannot all be masters I" 

Russell. Why not ! The needs of the poor are the best 
guide to public policy. 

[Mrs. Morse turns to the others and listens.] 

Senator Morse. But the hungry man can't think. 

Mrs. Morse. And the well-fed man won't. 

Russell. But there's the great middle class, to whom 
thought is more than mere food and drink. It's time for 
everybody to think when the greatest criminal still unhung 
can buy a national convention, own a national government, 
control a great church, debauch the press, poison the wells 
of knowledge by private retainers to university teachers, 
dominate the courts and prosecuting attorneys so as to keep 
himself out of the penitentiary — protect his thefts of pub- 
lic property, insure fabulous dividends and interest on 
stolen stocks and bonds, oppress all who oppose him, and, 
in order to overturn an inconvenient principle of law or 
government, reduce tlie whole fabric of private, social, and 
International justice to a useless and chaotic mass of false 
precedent, conflict, waste, and positive injustice. 

Senator Morse. Business men don't care for justice; 
what they want is results. 

Russell. When one man is suffered to imagine himself 
superior to the rest, that is the result they'll get. 

Mrs. Morse. That's a serious indictment, Russell. 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 43 

Russell. Such men make life for most people a pretty 
serious thing, and people would better realize what they arc 
working against. I know any number of brilliant men of 
forty, who have done the hardest kind of well-directed hon- 
est work for twenty years, who, just because they won't 
Bell out, can't keep up a respectable home for their small 
families. 

[Senator Morse shakes his head as if not caring to 
dissent.] 

Mrs. Morse. You've left out the good side. 

Russell. I don't see it — only the other side. It's Bul- 
lard's bitterness, not his zeal, that seems to work in me. 
/ wish I could afford to break away from him. But / have 
my duty to others. I've had to sell out ! 

Senator Morse. Take the jump ; I'll see you don't lose 
by it. I'll help you. 

Russell. I confess I dislike to hurt his feelings. 

Senator Morse. Bless my soul, he hasn't any feeling. 

Mrs. Morse. John's an older man than you are, Rus- 
sell. His judgment is good in such matters. On moral 
questions he is almost clairvoyant ! 

Russell. I don't like to break suddenly. The Pacific 
bill is the most important matter he ever had. 

Senator Morse. That's the only Avay. The longer you 
cook and coddle an uncertainty, the stronger it gets. The 
biggest thing a man can do is to realize he's in a tight 
place and to break loose without delay. 

Russell. It doesn't seem fair to Bullard. He depends 
on me absolutely. 

Senator Morse. If s the only fair way. Let him know 
where you stand. This Pacific business is sure to create a 
Bcandal and perhaps a war. To have that Canal freely 
used not only by our ships but by those of all nations will 
be a matter of life and death to the struggling masses of 
the next generation. When political matters are dealt 
with, the mind must take in the future. Bullard's Bill is 



44 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

an attempt to fix the System on the American people and on 
the world for the next hundred years. That is why I'm op- 
posing the Bill so strenuously. I want to make my position 
clear. Transportation is the power to brinj*; people closer I 

Mrs. Morse. John is right, Russell. He usually sees 
over other men's heads. 

Russell. But / can't think of Bullard as a vicious man. 

Senator Morse. Bullard, my dear boy, is but an epi- 
sode in the cycle of vice. Men and women indulge in 
habits, like the use of tobacco and strong drink and drugs, 
heady, pernicious things, which lead from one vice to an- 
other and consume the fruits of land that might grow 
bread. Men and women drink because drink enables them 
to indulge their comic sense in the face of their own tragedy 
and to forget the sense of false inequality of our times, and 
the people on the other end of the equation are glad to let 
them forget it. And behold I — upon the profits of this in- 
dulgence arises a new financial dynasty, which invests its 
surplus in railroads and other things, including govern- 
ment — which it controls with the aid of vice and its pur- 
veyors — or, if need be, by war. They poison humanity ! 

Russell. So, it isn't being vicious we need to avoid, 
but just the being episodes. 

Senator Morse. Yes, Russell, society is like a complex 
chemical compound in which no one ingredient is all- 
powerful. It isn't big causes which make things go wrong. 
It's all the little elements, the little things we do and don't 
do. [Russell begins to ponder what is heinff said in gen- 
eral terms, and appears to he taking it home to himself.] 
When a boy has once learned that there is nothing smart in 
taking a drink that he doesn't want, he has taken a long 
step on the road to real manhood. When a man has once 
got the habit of seeing every woman who comes under his 
influence with his own mother's arm about her waist, he 
has already adopted the principal chapter in the code of 
the real gentleman ; when a poor man has once learned the 
superior comfort of going hungry to being sated on com- 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 45 

promising money, he has gone far toward establishing his 
real respectability ; and when a rich man has once learned 
that satisfaction over his own money-safety in the midst 
of the want of others can only exist in a filthy mind, he is 
already in serious danger of becoming a member of really 
decent society. 

Mrs. Morse. And when those things hapi)en, society as 
a whole will have taken a great leap forward. 

[Russell seems ready to surrender hcfore this ad- 
vice. Senator Morse comes up to him and places 
his rif/ht hand on Kussell's shoulder.] 
Russell. We do neglect chemistry — mental, moral, so- 
cial, and commercial — a fundamental error, as Dr. Bul- 
lard himself says — and society is nothing without a com- 
mon philosophy based upon scientific fact. 

Senator Morse. We had a son once, and he would 
have been just your age. 

[Russell appears overcome hy a sense of the depth 
and the worth of the friendship of Senator Morsr 
and Mrs. Morse for him.] 
Russell. I'll speak to Bullard tonight. 
Senator Morse. We'll see that you get a chance. 
Russell. I'll try to have it over with. 

[Enter Musicians from right. They tune up and 
commence playing, and continue when appropri- 
ate up to the end of the a€t.] 
Senator Morse. Here is Bullard now. 

[Enter Bullard from left, ivithout overcoat and 
hat. Bullard is a drinking man. The audience 
is apprised of that fact hy the swagger of his 
speech, that of a Yankee provincialized hy the me- 
tropolis, the tenor of his remarks, and hy appar- 
ently insignificant mannerisms which gradually 
develop until their significance hecomes manifest 
hy his indulgence at tahle. He poses as a cynic, 
hut allows to he seen th*: sentimentalist fighting 



46 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

grimly up the heights upon the inept staff of the 
materialist.] 

BuLLARD. Good evening, Senator. 

Senator Morse. Good evening, Mr. Bullard. We were 
just speaking of 

Bullard. — The devil ! — Your humble servant? 

Mrs. Morse. [Disconcerted, but trying to set mattcrt 
right.] It was very nice of you to come. Now we can dis- 
cuss public questions. 

Bullard. It was very nice of you to ask me to come. 
Russell, my boy ! How are you? 

Russell. Good evening, Mr. Bullard. 

[Russell icallcs to the sofa, sits down, and watchet 
the other three, who are standing.] 

Bullard. Public questions, Mrs. Morse, are very com- 
mon topics. 

Mrs. Morse. Why, then, is it difficult to treat common 
topics in a proper way ? 

Bullard. It always is. That's the rarest faculty. And 
there are none but common things ! 

Senator Morse. No public question ever gets settled 
without your help, eh, Bullard? 

Bullard. No public question ever gets settled, Sen- 
ator. 

Senator Morse. Until it is settled right. 

Bullard. I stand pat on my version. The two-party 
f-ee-saw was designed for that — by the politicians. To re- 
Tiiove the classic issues would be t*^ \\\\ the goose — the pub- 
lic goose — which lays the golden eggs. 

Senator Morse. You stand pat from force of habit? 

Bullard. No, respect for facts. When I see a cold, 
hard fact, I always take my hat off to it. That habit has 
!^;aved me a lot of trouble in my day. 

Senator Morse. And made you a lot of money. 

Bullard. For me and my clients. 

Mrs. Morse. Money ^sn't everything, Mr. Bullard. 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 47 

BuLLARD. If it was it wonlfln't be money; it wouldn't 
get you anything. Money, money — Mrs. Morse, is what 
gets you everything. 

Mrs. Morse. Not everything, Mr. Bullard. Men may 
be upright without money. 

Bullard. [Assuming the ingratiating manner of his 
class and making a show of "talking from the inside" and 
of being above concealment with his hearers.] I haven't 
heard that lately. The average man would rather be in 
right than upright. It's hard to be both at the same time. 
Now, I attended the First Panel of the Sheriff's Jury at 
four o'clock today. Not one of the panel but is a millionaire 
and every one of them bent on escaping ordinary jury duty 
at any price. The Sheriff gets more than the President in 
fees alone — and all the job-holders in proportion. Well, 
our newest multi-millionaire, your young friend Chance, 
was welcomed to this panel by Peter Merwin himself. Mr. 
Merwin slapped the boy on the back and dubbed him 
"Youthful'' and the jurors cried out, "iJoth members of 
this Club !" 

Senator Morse, ine boy's just been admitted to the 
Unity Club, too. 

Bullard. Excuse me, Senator — we are both members 
— but I'd as soon belong to the Grand Central Station ! 

Mrs. Morse. Mr. Merwin said a fine thing the other 
day — he would rather loan money on a man's character 
than on government bonds. 

Bullard. Mr. Merwin — believe me — never had the 
choice. He deals exclusively with the fellows that have 
the securities. By the way, he has induced "Sir Youthful" 
to take hold of the financial end of this so-called reform 
campaign. 

Senator Morse. It is the new Educational Foundation 
against 

Bullard. — Against the ancient literary foundation 
known as the Tammany Society. 



48 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Senator Morse. Well, Yoiithfurs father left several 
millions in securities, that Merwiu 

BuLLARD. Handed to him — and wouldn't lend a dol- 
lar on. The greatest bait this goldfish in his blinding bowl 
ever nibbled at was a secret process for making gold from 
(sea-water. How characteristic! How many of the tribe 
wish to do that in one way or another! — to owr the sea 
and through it have no less than everything for their own. 
[Grinning. 1 If the wastrel had lived, we'd have had — the 
whole fortune in that paper. Merwin has bales of it — still 
undigested. Unfortunately, Chance never cared to run for 
office. He was one sucker that never bit. But he did love 
paper! There are too few like him ! Introduce a bill, Sen- 
ator, requiring securities that a donkey can eat. Stock 
should be fed as well as watered. 

Mrs. Morse. The name Chance is on the list of victims 
in every society broker's failure. 

BuLLARD. They're all outposts for Merwin. The Street 
is his camp. Chance, that is, fortune, is their Creator ! 

Senator Morse. Merwin's ivards are widows and 
orphans! He is a patron of religion. 

Mrs. Morse. And Mr. Merwin has done a lot for the 
country. 

Senator Morse. And the country has done a lot for 
Mr. Merwin. 

BuLLARD. And Mr. Merwin has done the country for 
a lot — but he gives it — a salve for the conscience. It'll be 
all right. 

Senator Morse. You know, Bullard, that Merwin 
pi'oposed to Mrs. Morse at the time I did. She accepted me 
because he was rich and everything he has done in spite of 
his money has been brought to my notice as a sort of re- 
minder that she may have made a mistake. 

Bullard. [Sadly.] A rare tribute to you both! 

Mrs. Morse. He [Looking toward the how icindow'\ 
has done much for fine arts in America 

Bullard. Mine is the real fine art of America. [Makes 



THE WASTREL HO AND. 49 

sig'ii of handliiifj money.] Mi*. Merwin is its chief patron. 
He holds art as he holds stocks — for the market. 

Mrs. Morse. He puts them iu public museums. 

BuLLARD. Yes. The public houses them, exempts them 

from taxation, and advertises them — and [During 

this conversation, Russell has been looking on, lost in 
thought. Totcard the end he forgets himself, rises, puts 
hie right fist to his mouth, the thumbnail touching the lips, 
the index finger along the upper lip, comes up to the group, 
but stares into space, as if alone.] — and — knocks them 
down — [diminuendo] at a rich profit.. [Bullard ends his 
sentence almost inaudihly as he suddenly notices Russell, 
is disconcerted, arrests his speech, and turns to Russell 
and speaks to him as if brought suddenly to knowledge of 
his state of mind.] Why so quiet, Russell? 

[Russell is aroused tmth a start, turns for a refuge 
in his confusion, notices Alice and ^Iary, who 
have entered, and speaks, as if to all, as Mary and 
Alice enter.] 

Russell. Here are the girls. 

Bullard. Charmin.2; ! 

Mrs. Morse. Meet Miss Flint and my daughter, Mr. 
Bullard. 

Bullard. [ A pj)ears fascinated by Mary.] Charmed! 

Alice. How do you do? 

Mary. [Resenting an engaging look.] How do you do? 

[Mary drops her handkerchief, with malice, to make 
Bullard bend. Bullard picks it up and in handing it 
to Mary stiiffs npprrciatevly at the perfume. Mary 
reaches for the handkerchief and, to affront Bullard, half 
catches at it.] 

Mrs. ]Morse. Miss Flint is the daughter of the Senator's 
oldest friend. 

[Bullard shoics that he has frit repulsed by Mary 
and attempts to retreat in graciousness to Mrs. 

Morse.] 



Sa THE WASTREL HOARD. 

BuLLARD. I congratulate her; that makes you her 
friend. In this soulless metropolis — the undertow — on 
this — seashore — is 

Mrs. Morse. We are the ones to be congratulated. 
She is as accomplished as she is beautiful. We hope to 
hear her at the Opera some day. 

[BuLLARD attempts to cover Jiis retreat in patroniz- 
ing graciousness to Mary.] 

BuLLARi). Wonderful ! 

[BuLLARD studies Mary's features closely, measures 
her from tip to toe in a guarded way, and checks 
an exclamation which ivould denote a discovery.] 
Mary. [Coldly.] Nonsense! 

[Bullard shows that he feels that his mask has been 
penetrated. He assumes the attitude of challenge 
and defiance.] 

Bullard. Don't be too sure. It'll be all right. [To 
himself, musing, setting his right hand on his chin — and to 
Russell.] Where? — The telephone I — The voice I [Bul- 
lard takes Russell aside to right. Mrs. Morse and Sen- 
ator Morse direct and. attempt to keep Mary and Alice 
away from. Russell and Bullard.] Charmer I So, that's 
the girl? 

Russell. What do you mean? 

Bullard. So that's wh}^ you have been so distracted 
and haven't been able to get down to business? 
' Russell. Do you mean to 

Bullard. Oh, I am blessed with good eyesight. It's 
as plain as Don't 1 know the signs? A child 

Russell. That's no excuse for seeing things. 

Bullard. It doesn't take a physician — any knowing 
woman could see 

[Victor and Mrs. Havorbee enter. The first person 
Victor greets is Mary, shaking her hand irith 
marked cordiality and covert admiration.] 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 51 

BULLARD. [Noting the attitude of Victor.] Good 
God! My boy! [With conscious amhiguity.] Is Chance 
wedging into this match, too ! 

Russell. [Showing that, in his preoccupation with the 
ordeal before him, he has not understood Bullard's insin- 
ttation.] Mr. Bullard, I am obliged to tell you 

[BuLLARD raises a learning hand to arrest the 
speech of Russell and to call his attention to the 
entrance of Victor and Mrs. Havorbeb. The 
speech and manner of Victor and Mrs. Havorbee 
disclose the superb detachment of ultra-smart 
Manhattanites. Victor does not deign to conceal, 
even in attempted dalliance with Mabi^, his atti- 
tude toward Alice of a suitor confident of his 
merits and assured of success. Mary, on the 
other hand, shotvs that she is embarrassed by the 
double necessity of appearing, on the one hand, 
to encourage Victor without hurting Alice, and 
otherwise to disarm suspicion of the nature of her 
interest in Russell, and, on the other hand, to 
give her attention to the talk of Bullard and 
Russell, so as, when necessity and opportunity 
combine, to shoot quick glances of intelligence and 
moral support to Russell.] 

Victor. [To Mary.] How charming you look! 
Blooming as a rose and sweet — as a — Madonna ! 

Mary. [With a nervous laugh.] I am glad you think 
so! 

Victor. [Unembarrassed, to Alice.] It is quite true. 

Eh! Isn't it? 

Alice. [Offering her hand to Victor.] How do you 
do? 

Victor. Oh ! Yes. How do you do ! Eh ! 

Bullard. [Nudging Rvi^SEhh and nodding.] You see! 

Russell. [Glowering at Bvia^ahd.] Well! 



52 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

[Mrs. Morse and Senator Morse take in the sitttO' 
tion between Russell and Bullard and take Mrs. 
Havorbee, Victor^ Alice^ and Mary in charge.] 

Mrs. Morse. It was so good of you to come, Mrs. 
Havorbee. 

Senator Morse. How do you do, Mrs. Havorbee. How 
do you do, Victor. 

Mrs. Morse. Let me show you the Americana I spoke 
to you about. Are you young people coming? 

[Victor, Alice, and Mary trail slowly after Mrs. 
Morse, Senator Morse and Mrs. Havorbee ; when 
they have reached the dining-room, Mary halts 
Victor and Alice.] 

Mary. [To Victor and Alice.] Doesn't the table 
look sweet! 

Victor. [To Mary.] Doesn't it? 

Alice. [Turning to Mary and her back to Victor.] 
It's a question of — appetite ! 

Mrs. Morse. [Observing the lagging.] All right, if you 
are not coming. 

[Mrs. Morse, Senator Morse, and Mrs. Havorbee 
go out at the right of the banquet room. Mary, 
Victor, and Alice move about the banquet room 
examining the table and talking. All three are 
fidgety, for distinct reasons. Victor affects a 
slouch and a general air of nonchalance. From 
time to time, he draws out alternately a jeweled 
gold cigarette case and a, gold lighter, and, in 
handling them, discloses his devotion to cigor 
rettes, his restiveness at not being able to smoke, 
and a general demeanor indicative of not knowing 
what to do with himself. Alice watches him with 
an apparent desire to take him in hand, and with 
concern at Mary^s lightness and nervousness. 
Mary has eyes and attention for Alice, for Vie- 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 53 

TOR, for Russell and Bullard, and for the return 
of tJie Others. Bullard and Kussbll^ each for 
a different reason, proceed in their talk as if 
desirous of getting something said before the 
Others return.] 

Bullard. What's the matter, my boy? I haven't hurt 
your feelings, have I? 

Russell. We'll leave my feelings out of it. I wish to 
discuss business. 

Bullard. I can't — I'm too fond of you. Besides, that 
isn't business. This Pacific matter is good for three years. 
You'll need to be footloose. This bill will be the entering 
wedge. After we carry Congress we'll have to get The 
Hague Tribunal. Certain nations must be prevented by its 
decree from denying our power to discriminate. That will 
require big money and rare cleverness. Once the power is 
conceded to discriminate in tolls, we'll have Congress make 
them so high our rivals can't pay them. 

Russell. An international hold-up. That means war. 

Bullard. Only with England. Land power against 
the sea. 

Russell. And Japan and China. The Japs are ripe for 
a fight for space to multiply. 

Bullard. It's war or The Hague. The continent of 
Europe's with us in either event. And if we decide we need 
Mexico, it is war — war with Japan, anyway. 

Russell. But the people 

Bullard. Our people will rise to the bait. The yellow 
newspapers will declare war and they'll be doing my work 
as usual. Every American who is dissatified with his op- 
portunities is spoiling for a chance in Mexico. We'll bring 
the whole thing on at once. Editors are our hired men ! 

Russell. But the treaty — the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty ! 

Bullard. A little scrap of paper can just start the blaze 
we want. That's what treaties are made for. You never 
hear of them except 



64 THFj wastrel HOARD. 

Russell. But the powers of Europe are balanced — 
France and Russia are with England. 

BuLLARD. So they all think. Not against us. That's 
the idea. We'll break that combination. England must be 
dethroned as the leader. 

Russell. We can't lead. Our entire foreign policy is 
based on Britain's control of the sea. 

BuLLAKD. That's what must be changed. To control 
commerce we've got to place the American people under a 
new leadership, a real leadership. 

Russell. What justification can there be? It was 
England that gave us an American Canal — by abrogating 
the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty — ours to build as and where we 
liked, to own, control and govern, on the sole condition of 
its being always neutral and free for the passage of the 
ships of all nations on equal terms, except that if we get 
into a war with any nation, we can shut its ships out and 
take care of ourselves. What justification ? 

BuLLARD. The usual one — high financial necessity. 
We've got to control the railroads from coast to coast to 
the South of us and keep Canada out of the Canal. Our 
railroads will then get the business away from the Canal, 
and keep the power, through their monopoly of coastwise 
ships, to charge whatever rates they please, and that'll give 
us control of the sea as well — a world monopoly at last. 
Then industries come in, then empire, then — the reward. 

[Russell appears to attempt to grasp Bullard^s 
idea.] 

Russell. But American registry and the flag ! 

Bullard. Are purely and simply matters, in peace and 
war, of insurance and taxation. 

Russell. But your own bill prohibits railroads from 
owning ships. 

Bullard. My boy, you are too innocent! You don't 
suppose we let our enemies manage the opposition to us! 
We oppose ourselves and nowadays we often appear in 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 55 

frantic opposition to what we really want. We put that 
life preserver for water competition in for the time being 
to conceal our real purpose — to get the power to discrim- 
inate. Once we have that we have everything. Then we'll 
monopolize water transportation, too. We'll never give up 
this fight. We have underwritten every profitable industry 
in the country 

Russell. Including the canning industry ! 

BuLLARD. What do you mean? 

Russell. Well, you can the press, the stage, the drama, 
the publishers, and the pulpit. Even the liquor interests 
restrict the press and control the modes. That's your 
very policy. 

Bullard. Only as a necessary incident. Otherwise we 
care nothing for them. We've killed public co-operation 
and private competition deader than a doornail. 

Russell. You do indeed control American lives from 
before the cradle almost to beyond the grave. 

Bullard. Yes. 

Russell. Well, you have made death so easy, yon 
ought to make burial free. It is a police function, anyway. 

Bullard. As a doctor I saw that the facts of mortality 
would, if known, tell the whole story of social crime. The 
coroner is the crown of the political arch. If you sur- 
render when the undertaker comes in you might as well 
be the corpse. We've got to protect w^hat we have and 
head off the come-back ; we are the middleman in all things 
and the ultimate distributors in most, but transportation 
is the keystone of the industrial arch. The natural geo- 
graphicnl advantage and our monopoly of coastwise trade 
don't help us. It's the political power to discriminate we 
want. Next we'll extend the exemption to all American 
ships and for all ports in the world. And then we'll raise 
the rates for the ships outside the combine. Once we con- 
trol transportation, we control commerce, and naval and 
commercial bases. The control of industry is the next step, 
and then the Inst man and the last dollar, a great, world 



56 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

empire. Let me tell you something! If our people learn 
how their railroad stock and bonds are created and held, 
they'll riot. We've got to get real power soon or never. 
Now for the entering wedge and then — and then — [Exult- 
ant] — it will keep us busy until we retire having these 
high tolls maintained. This question has come and it has 
come to stay ; it will not down as long as men and nations 
have ambitions! [Russell stands lost in thought.] You 
agree to forget your feelings for this girl and I'll make 
proper reparation for her and 

Russell. [Again hecoming attentive.] What do you 
mean, reparation? [Russell catches sight of Victor, 
Alice, and Mary, and receives a furtive glance from, Mary 
bespeaking an attack upon the plan agreed upon.] Well ! 

Mary. [In a hurst of forced laughter.] Why, Victor! 
You mustn't say such things ! 

Victor. Pardon me. Eh! 

Alice. [Troubled.] Not again. 

[The conversation of Mary, Victor, and Alice con- 
tinues in a low tone and Russell gives his un- 
divided attention to Bullard again.] 

BuLLARD. Well — [Noting the diversion and balking at 
cxplicitness.] — I'll double your retainer right now. 

Russell. That's no inducement. 

BuLLARD. Why not? 

Russell. Double nothing is nothing. 

Bullard. What do you mean? 

Russell. I haven't any retainer. 

Bullard. Why, it's ten thousand a year. That's some- 
thing to start on. Then you get a reminder, then a refresh- 
er, then a sweetener, then a sustainer, and then your fee. 
The law is a good profession, and the mysterious paymas- 
ter makes a good client. 

Russell. Retainer! [Disparagingly.] H'm! 

Bullard. Well, it's no crime to pay your lawyer or 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 57 

your broker, thoiigli a good many dishonest people seem 
to think it is. Those who do pay deserve loyalty. 

Russell. Yes, but I've stopped. 

BuLLABD. That's right, and you're starting over at 
twice the salary. It'll be all right. 

Russell. On the contrary. I am giving up back salary. 

BuLLARD. You'll have to furnish a diagram for that 
joke. 

Russell. In the past year I have received from you ten 
thousand dollars as a retainer and twelve thousand dol- 
lars in fees. I haven't used a penny of it. I've that amount 
and a little more saved up. 

BuLLARD. You needn't tell me that. We own all the 
banks, and we know every transaction of every individual 
who interests us. 

Russell. And that knowledge is power. 

BuLLARD. Absolute power. Now, you interest me very 
much, you see. 

Mary. [In another diplomatic outhurst.] Rich men 
always fall back on their money and never on their man- 
hood. 

[BuLLARD pauses a moment and Russell gives a 
moment to thought.] 

Victor. [Patronizingly to Mary.] ^ot ahvay si 
Alice. [Disturbed.] Too often I 
Victor. [In a lower tone, to Alice and Mary.] It's 
a common weakness. 

[Bullard fi.ves a challenging gaze upon Russell 
which Russell returns.] 

Russell. The spider's web ! You'll receive a certified 
check tomorrow for what you have paid me. You say that 
you know it will be good. 

Bullard. You're not going to quit, are you? 

Russell. That's it exactly. I am going to quit. 

Bullard. But yon can't do that. This Pacific Bill 
isn't passed yet by a good deal. 



58 TEE WASTREL HOARD. 

Russell. I'm willing to pay the price. I'm giring it 
all back. 

BULLABD. Not all 

Russell. What do you mean? 

BuLLABD. How about your profits in underwritings I 
put you in on ? 

Russell. I took the risk. Things went down soon 
enough. They do now. Every time they go up, those clever 
Teutons unload. Everyone suffers from that risk. 

BuLLABD. Yes, just the same risk as my friends in 
Congress. But there wasn't any risk on their flyers. We 
were jockeying the dividends. That's why I put them in. 

Russell. I'm glad you told me. I'll give that back, too. 

BuLLABD. It isn't so simple as that. We've trusted the 
whole thing to you. 

Russell. Am I not free? Does your hold-up include 
me? 

BuLLABD. You can't turn around on people. You have 
our secrets. 

Russell. Under the seal of professional privilege. 

BuLLABD. Which the courts no longer respect in mat- 
ters of this kind. 

Russell. Well, you have my word. 

BuLLABD. And you've slipped a moral cog. 

Russell. No. I've just caught one. Lawyers should 
be punished for their part in their clients' villainy. / 
might have been disbarred. 

Bullabd. Impossible. You are a member of the Bar 
Association. 

Russell. But I'm becoming honest. I'll resign. 

Bullabd. No man trusts a reformed lobbyist. He's 
only fit for an expert State's witness. 

Russell. I'm not dealing with every man. I'm dealing 
with you. Do you mean to say you don't trust me? 

Bullabd. I have trusted you. Aren't you going back 
on me? You're a lawyer. You're going to continue to 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 59 

practice. You'll be retained for what you know, facts as 
well as law. 

KussBLL. You needn't fear. The door is closed upon 
the past. Nobody'll learn anything from me. It's nothing 
to be proud of and I'll not be heard boasting. [Russell 
turns aside — looks upwards and mutters as if in despair.] 
Stealing from humanity ! Not a hundred years ago society 
would hang a man by law just for stealing a sheep from 
another man. And now humanity submits — and society 
goes on producing its own disease and crime. Society 
protects private property even to selective imprisonment 
for debt but never selects for punishment wholesale theft 
of public property. 

BuLLARD. What's that! [Russell remains silent, BuL- 
LARD hites his lips, pauses, then proceeds.] Many a lawyer 
would like to be able to say to prospective clients he had 
served our interests. A man seldom knows when he's well 
off — until lie's worse off ! 

[Mrs. Morse, Senator Morse, and Mrs. Havorbee 
come into the banquet room from the right.] 

Mrs. Havorbee. [Her eyes happen to rest upon Vic- 
tor, Alice, and Mary.] Splendid! And very interesting! 
Russell. I shall have only one client, hereafter. 

[Flint enters. Mrs. Morse and Senator Morse 
hurry to take possession of him.] 

Flint. [Effusirely.] Well. How do you do! 

Mrs. Morse. This is a pleasure ! 

Senator Morse. Come in, Sam, and meet my friends. 

[Alice, followed by Victor atid Mrs. Havorbee, 
come forward to greet Flint. Alice kisses Flint 
on the cheek. Flint beams on Mrs. Havorbee 
and shakes hands with Victor.] 

Alice. Well. Uncle Sam. You are more attractive than 
ever 



60 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Flint. [Turning the compliment to Mrs. Havorbbb.] 
It is being with you young folks. 

Alice. This is Mr. Chance's aunt, Mrs. Havorbeb. 

Flint. I shouldn't have believed it. 

Mrs. Havorbee. We'll say Victor is my nephew. 

Victor. As a woman thinks! [All laugh at Victor's 
loit, move backward, under Mrs. Morse's steering, and drop 
into more subdued conversation. Bullard, who has dis' 
creetly paused, resumes.^ 

Bullard. Retained already? 

[Victor notes that Mary has remained out of view 
of Flint_, in the banquet room, studying alter- 
nately Russell and the seating arrangement, and 
goes back to Mary.] 

Russell. Not yet. 

Bullard. The new client makes up what you pay 
back. There's an agreement. 

Russell. None whatever. The new client doesn't know 
I'm coming. 

Bullard. You're taking a chance, my boy. Who is it? 
Perhaps I can tell you about them. It'll be all right. 

Russell. You don't know this client. You wouldn't 
understand them. 

Bullard. Who is it? It'll be 

Russell. The American people. 

Bullard. A United States attorney! But they prac- 
tice privately! — And to great advantage. [Russell holds 
his retort poised.] But we have the right men in those 
places now. We don't need you there. 

Russell. You won't have me there. When / said peo- 
ple, I meant it ! 

[Alice rejoins Mary and Victor in the banquet 
room. Bullard takes note and nods to Russell. 
Mrs. Morse and Senator Morse appear very much 
occupied in keeping the attention of Mrs. Havor- 
bee and Flint from Bullard and Russell. From 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 61 

time to time Flint bursts into laughter, evidently 
in appreciation of his own sallies. Shortly after, 
as if in echo, Mary, still out of view of Flint, 
hurst into strategic hollow laughter. The atten- 
tion of Flint is each time arrested, hut he comes 
hack quickly to his own field of conquest. At 
each burst of laughter, Russell gives increasing 
signs of nerves and fear of causing Bullard to 
raise his voice.] 

Bullard. Not that! 
Russell. Yes. Just that! 

[Russell turns away from Bullard, but Bullard 
follows him about, keeping up a running fire of 
conversation, and gradually getting his attention.] 

Bullard. My boy! Are you crazy? Come, give up 
this affair. I know it's hard. Be a Don Quixote, if you 
like. That's not fatal. But don't wreck your life on the 
myth of service to society. There's no such thing as organ- 
ized society. Can't you see that you weren't born to be its 
victim or its slave? The bottom of the treadmill is no 
place for you. You didn't select poverty for your birth- 
right. Society allowed it to be wished upon you. Now is 
your chance to come into your own. Don't make it impossi- 
ble for me to help you. Every child born is its parents' 
hostage to so-called society for their good behavior — [Flint 
laughs] — ^but what hostage does society give them or you? 
What insurance is there for paternity, that the commonest 
crime is its prevention? [Mary laughs.] What does good 
behavior get anybody nowadays? There are only individ- 
uals in this world and society is organized against them. 
There never was an individual so good that society 
wouldn't turn on him and crucify him without a pang. 
Don't be ahead of your time ! That's treason ! Harvey's 
theory of the circulation of the blood was considered so 
ridiculous that for ten years not a single patient consulted 



62 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Mm. Not the circnlation of money ! ^'Pnt money in thy 
purse!" Don't waste your fine scorn of the idealist upon the 
one thing which enables a man today to cherish his ideals. 
Get the money that will shelter you from the penalties of 
being without. [Flint laughs.] Society imprisons God's 
poor, who, with or without fault, or for just cause given by 
society itself, get on the wrong side of the law and find all 
the virtuous forces of society leagued against them — 
[Mary laughs.] — in what should be clinics with specific 
wards for specific complaints, l)ut in their terrible 
reality are such mephitic, disease-and-degradation-spread- 
ing Bastilles that those that know them would rather 
be dead than go there — to be persecuted, grafted on, 
victimized, and starved by degTees — morally and phys- 
ically — until they become moral lepers and parasites. 
[BuLLARD fugs at his collar, as if to relieve pi^essurc.] 
And even the innocent, sent to these places and buried 
alive through society's mistake — without questioning 
vvhether their deficiencies be not evidence of their guilt- 
lessness — [Flint laughs.] — and its ow^n guilt — society 
has neither the heart, the character, nor the self-respect 
to compensate for the false accusation and the unjust 
punishment. And the innocent Avomen and children suffer 
eternally from the moment organized society knocks — 
[Mary laughs.] — at the breadwinner's door. And no- 
body's safe from the knock at the door. The surrender 
of the public functions of lawyers, including those of 
prosecuting attorneys, for purposes of protection and 
private blackmail and coercion, has become a fixed Amer- 
ican custom. The struggle is always unequal. [Flint 
laughs.] When I consider v\^hat kind of men dare to judge 
other men, I am appalled, and I shudder! It is the man 
in power who determines who shall go and for how long. 
Justice, or what goes by that name, is openly bought and 
sold in the United States. A less serious cause, the sale 
of indulgences, brought about the Reformation, and no 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 63 

greater cause, the unjust conviction of Jean Calas, was 
made, by Voltaire, the cause of the French Revolution. 

[Mary laughs and turns from Alice to Victor and 
furtively shoots a glance at Russell.] 

Mary. For heaven's sake, say something — Victor I 
Russell. Well, American law is so mixed up that no- 
body really knows it and few know that. The two big 
causes for the breakdown of justice, the uneven distribu- 
tion of wealth and the private control of public prop- 
erty, are just the things which should call forth courageous, 
constructive jurists. [With a glance at Victor^ Alice, and 
Mary.] But even the mob admires money. It is tangible 
and they can understand it — but brains — ^they can't. So 
what's the use I States' rights, extra courts, no nation, but 
just politics, graft, inefficiency, chaos, nothing, America I 
BuLLARD. Correct. And organized society, as at pres- 
ent constituted, commits crimes that defy the imagination 
and make the blood run cold, with its dupes worsliipping it 
all the while as holy. [Flint laughs.] Modern society is 
probably the weakest and the crudest thing in existence. 
[Mary laughs.] If civilized society were a body that could 
be strung up by the neck, it wouldn't survive meeting the 
first pair of real men with a rope. And it won't be better 
until it's stronger, or stronger until it is better. Power on 
its present foundations is weakness itself. Come, now I 
I understand you as nobody else ever can, and we can help 
one another. [Mary laughs.] You've been in politics 
long enough to know that no man in public office owes the 
public anything. I'll give you time to get over this — give 
you a trip to Europe, fees and expenses. I can't get on 
without you. I can get the grafters myself. I've got to 
have you to get the honest members, accelerate public 
opinion, and put brains in the heads of some and tongues 
in the mouths of others. If I get anybody else, he'll think 
of nothing but to get my job for himself. Besides, you 



64 TEE WASTREL HOARD. 

have the confidence of the one universally honored United 
States Senator. His daughter 

Mary. [Laughs.] Preposterous, Victor ! Money always 
keeps the better manhood down ! 

EussELL. [Showing resentment and as if regretting 
the attention he has given Bullard.] You've said enough ! 
This conference is at an end. 

Bullard. Not quite yet. Did this girl tell you to break 
with me? 

[Flint catches sight of Mary and starts toward her. 
She turns her hack and Flint stops and watches 
her. Mrs. Morse comes to the rescue. ] 

Mrs. Morse. John has some new bits of Americana. 
He wishes you to see them. 

Flint. [Enthusiastically, forgetting that he has a 
daughter. His speech is that of the self-conscious, precious 
Yankee.] Of course. I want to see them. [Mrs. Morse 
and Flint go to side of banquet room, followed hy Senator 
Morse and Mrs. Havorbee^ who beckon to Victor^, Alice^, 
and Mary. Bullard notes that he and Russell are to be 
alone and speaks ivith increased emphasis. Mary remains 
behind the Others^ out of view, and listens.] 

Russell. This matter is between you and me; we're 
both guests here. 

Bullard. Let the girl go abroad to study. 

Russell. I refuse to discuss the matter further. 

Bullard. You've told your side of it. 

Russell. There isn't any other. 

Bullard. How about Mrs. Turner and the girls? 

Russell. Why are you so interested in children? You 
never had any of your own. 

Bullard. The difference between the love of one's own 
children only and the love of others' children, too, is the 
difference between the past and the future of the human 
race. / have tried to be a big brother to you. 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 65 

[BuLLARD reaches for Jiis ivatch chain and looks 
doicn at a locket thereon, the mate to the one 
KussELL gave to Mary. He notes then for the 
first time that the locket is missing from Rus- 
SBLL^s chain.] 

Russell. I appreciate tliat, but my family is my own 
affair. 

BuLLARD. Hard times are coming. 

Russell. Don't talk hard times to me. It's been hard 
times for me ever since I was born — and for most other 
people, too. How do you know hard times are coming? If 
your underwriters keep on withdrawing the credit of small 
enterprises and keep on sending gold back to Europe for 
military establishments, they'll feel hard times themselves, 
and they'll be lucky if the structure they erect on other 
people's misfortunes doesn't tumble upon their own heads. 

Bullard. But you needn't risk the welfare of your 
family. Children are young but once. 

[The chime clock in the library is heard striking 
seven times.] 

Russell. Yes — and a man is young but once. The 
best Time lets him keep is his good name. If he gives his 
children that 

[The smaller clock strikes seven times.] 

Bullard. To have done nothing for children but to 
bring them into the world is to have done nothing indeed ! 
To a man the privilege of guiding his children is the breath 
of life. That should be every grown man's worry. 

Russell. I've done it. 

Bullard. But the instinct quickens and grows from 
the first doll to the last grandchild. 

[The larger clock, in a room above, strikes seven 
times.] 
Russell. I know my duty. 



66 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 



[The orchestra commences to play ''The ^erenudc," 
by Franz Drdla, the violins predominating with 
muted strings. The music continues until after 
the fall of the curtain.] 



Allegretto „,„rti^. 




THE WASTREL IIOAllD. 67 

BuLLARD. I'll let Mrs. Turner judge. Wlien I tell her 
about the other — singing girl ! 

KussELL. If any man brings sorrow into the life of the 
woman who has been my wife, by God, I'll kill him. And 
now, I'm through. 

[The very loud chime, of the hall clock on the floor 
below, is heard to strike seven times.] 

BuLLARD. I've urged you to give up the other woman. 
Remember that, thanks to you, I'm on the inside with the 
Morses now. I notice you are not wearing your locket ! 

[Mrs. Morse, Senator Morse, Flint, Mrs. Havor- 
BEE, Alice, and Victor come into the banquet 
room and Mary keeps ahead of them.] 

Russell. The race of men who spy upon the weakness 
of their neighbors in order to get in upon them and to 
profit by their knowledge are the nearest thing to rats that 
God allows to exist in human form. 

Bullard. [Pats Russell on the shoulder.] You'll 
meet many human rats, my boy, as you get older. It'll be 
all right. Come, we're attracting attention. We'll talk it 
over tomorrow. 

Russell. It will be as I say. I'm through. 

Bullard. All right, my boy. It will be all right. 

[Bullard joins the others. Mary joins Russell.] 

Mary. I'm proud of you. It w^as wonderful. You'll 
not be sorry. 

Russell. Not if you are pleased. I feel stronger al- 
ready, as if I could accomplish anything. 

Mary. So you can. We both can. But we must start 
all over again. You start your campaign here. I'll do 
Europe. I'll beat Bullard if I have to go to The Hague to 
do it — and if they hang me afterward ! 

[Mary makes a strategic retreat from Russell.] 
Flint. [Ecstatically, to Mrs. Morse.] Some of these 



68 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

bits are priceless. Mary Dyer [Dramatically], the 'Quaker 
girl, an apostle of peace, in defiance to the Puritan hang- 
men ! Two hundred and fifty odd years ago ! That Dutch 
print is wonderful. [ Turning to Mary in a matter-of-fact 
way.] Hello, daughter, I am glad to see you here. 

[Russell avoids Flint and joins Victor, Alice, 
Senator Morse, and Bullard in the banquet 
room.] 

Mary. I am glad to he — here. 

[Mrs. Morse leaves Mary and Flint together and 
joins the others.] 

Flint. I had a shock today. I happened to learn the 
address of little Laura Lord and I called. 

Mary. Well ? 

Flint. A strange coincidence ! I hadn't seen her for 
years — to speak to. 

Mary. [Grlmlg.] I have often heard you speak of 
her — a paragon ! 

Flint. It was pitiable — her condition — and she seemed 
miserable, like one doomed. 

Mary. I am sorry. 

Flint. You must go to see her. 

Mary. I shall. 

Flint. She lives at the Lynnthorpe. She's tied, it 
seems, to a worthless fellow — who married her — some 
years ago — without love, just to keep her from the stage. 
He's named — Turner — Russell Turner. 

Mary. [Steadying herself and turning away as if to 
look toward the banquet room, she hesitates a moment, then 
turns toward her father and, seeming ready to sink to the 
floor, makes an effort to speak to Flint ; her eyes are half- 
closed, and her voice is almost inaudible.] They seem 
ready to sit down. 

[As the guests make their way to the table the cur- 
tain falls.] 

Curtain. 



ACT, II. 



ACT II. 

The scene is the same as in ACT I, except that the outer 
line of the stage is almost parallel with the outer line 
of the doors on either side of the stage. The banquet 
room is thus brought into the foreground. During the 
time that has elapsed, the principal courses of the din- 
ner have been passed. The orchestra has been heard 
playing behind the curtain. 

As the curtain inscs sloicly, animated conversation appears 
to be in progress and all the guests arc seen at their 
places, at table; Senator Morse at head, facing the 
audience; Mrs. Morse at foot; on either side of Senator 
Morse arc Flint and Bullard; at Mrs. Morse's right 
sits Mary; at left sits Russell; next to Mary, at right, 
sits Victor ; next to Russell_, at left, sits Mrs. Havor- 
bee; newt to Victor, at right, sits Alice. The orchestra 
is just finishing '^The Prologue'' from I Pagliacci.] 

Mrs. Morse. I'm coming to see you when yon play, 
Mary. 

Alice. Mary says she'll never play unless someone 
chloroforms one of the principals. 

Mary. [With a forced laugh.] I never saw such 
healthy women. 

Victor. A likely understudy is a great invigorator to 
the rest of the company. Kh ! 

Mrs. Morse. Mary ought to have a part where she can 
sing a song. 

[Bullard suddenly looks at Mary. His attention 
becomes fixed upon the locket. He looks down at 
the one he carries on his xcatch-chain and discloses 
that he has discovered that they match and that 
he is nettled. Victor attempts to give an imita- 
tion of Mary singing the grand air from Tosca.] 

71 



72 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Victor. ^^Vissi d'arte — vissi d'amore! I never did 
nothing to nobody !" I am quite a singer myself ! Eh ! 

BuLLARD. [To Victor.] We will keep your secret! 

Victor. What secret? 

BuLLARD. That you are a singer. 

Victor. {Curtly] Oh! Thanks! 

BuLLARD. Is there any other? 

Victor. Not that / know of. 

[Mary froivns furtively at Victor. Bullard turns 
to Flint.] 

Bullard. Your daughter is on the stage, Mr. Flint? 

Victor. It's a play called "Life." There's a fatal fas- 
cination about playing at life. Eh! 

Mary. [With a diplomatic chuckle.] It is deadly! 

Flint. [Brooking the interruption with marked resig- 
nation.] I am sorry to say she is. [Nervous, to change 
the subject.] That was a great speech of yours, Senator, 
on the Pacific Canal Bill. We've got to keep our treaties. 
The world's peace rests on treaties. We can't afford to 
endanger that. Sovereignty has duties as well as rights. 

Bullard. [Giving Mary a look of confident chal- 
lenge.] Lucky it isn't the movies! The stage must be in 
an awful pucker when that form of entertainment can get 
a footing! 

Senator Morse. It's a serious matter. We must neu- 
tralize that Canal so that any nation that fights us there 
must fight the world. 

Bullard. Very serious, Senator, when you're sched- 
uled to hold a brief before The Hague Tribunal against 
your speech. If w^e pass our bill, you'll surely be chosen. 

Senator Morse. Do you think so? I've declared my- 
self against the Bill. 

Bullard. You've advised and defended many a man 
you wouldn't admit you believed in. 

Senator Morse. But that's as a lawyer. 

Bullard. It lent your prestige. That's why you were 
retained. 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 73 

Senator Morse. A lawyer can't choose his clients — 
and live. Besides, the questions are not quite the same. 
One question is that of power and expediency. At The 
Hague we argue technical questions of law. 

BULLARD. "Consistency is the mark of greatness," Sen- 
ator. 

Senator Morse. And "the bugbear of small minds," 
Bullard. 

Flint. That's one on you, Bullard. 

Bullard. It looks that way. 

Senator Morse. No offense intended. 

Bullard. None taken, I assure you. Give them some 
of that sauce at The Hague. It'll be all right. 

Senator Morse. It's a far cry to The Hague. You 
haven't passed your bill yet. 

Bullard. But we will, this session or next. The ques- 
tion is one of those that will keep nations in conflict until 
it unites them forever in peace. We'll soon be at The 
Hague. 

Senator Morse. If you ever do, you'll have to be there 
to feed me the argument on your side. 

Bullard. All nature is an appetite of some sort ! 

Mrs. Havorbee. Why are you not drinking your wine, 
Mr. Flint. It is good. 

Flint. My dear lady, I am a manufacturer ; I now em- 
ploy more than five thousand men ; and almost every night 
for thirty years, one or more women with one child in arms 
and another, perhaps, tugging at the skirt, rang my door- 
bell to ask me to reinstate a husband who had lost his 
place through drink. [Looking at Mary.] I shall hold 
that an evil day when I or mine take the first glass of wine. 

Mrs. Havorbee. Dear me, you are serious. 

Flint. Sufficiently so even to recommend my serious- 
ness to 1J0U. As a public-spirited woman, I should think 
you might consider giving an example — [Looking at Vic- 
tor^ tvho is toying with a glass] — of total abstinence. 

Mrs. Havorbee. Oh, dear me, no — I couldn't think of 



74 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

it I have neither — [Looking at Flint] — husband, nor — 
[Looking at Mary] — chick nor child. Oh, no. I couldn't 
give up my cocktail ! — Not at my time of life ! 

Mrs. Morse. You are, indeed, unfortunate. No mother- 
woman, who has prepared a child for the world and desires 
to prepare the world for her child, would feed it habits or 
countenance women drinking or smoking cigarettes. 

BuLLARD. It is regrettable, Mr. Flint, you hadn't — 
[Looking at Mary] — a son to turn your work over to. 

Flint. If I had, I probably shouldn't. It seems to be 
less than one generation from shirtsleeves to the wrist- 
watch. I have seen few sons qualifying for big jobs. 

Mrs. Morse. [She has suspended her interruption dur- 
ing that of BuLLARD.] No mother could say that, Mrs. 
Havorbee. It is just as I always say. Better have a Court 
of Mothers at The Hague — that'll at least assure peace. 

BuLLARD. You must be there. 

Mrs. Morse. There ought to be an American woman 
there to look after you. Russell, you should go. [Bullard 
squirms.] You have a friend there. 

[Mary looks up as if in inquiry.] 

Russell. [Furtively.] He is a very good friend. 

[Mary appears satisfied. Bullard hastens to change 
the subject.] 
Bullard. By the way, Senator, you were not at the 
Opera Directors' meeting today. 

Senator Morse. I've been rather neglectful lately. The 
Peace Society met. You discussed opera in English. I'm 
sorry I wasn't present. 

Victor. A very stormy meeting — the Krupp gunman's 
Brtinnhilde against the made in America maid. 

[Mary feigns appreciative laughter which rings hoi- 
low.] 

Bullard. What do you think. Senator, of the plan to 
send a promising American singer abroad to stucly? 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 75 

Senator Morse. Splendid! 

BuLLARD. Would yon make the choice and take charge 
of the administration of the fund? 

Senator Morse. I should be delighted. 

BuLLARD. Well, Mr. Merwin is ready to put fifty thou- 
sand dollars into your hands tomorrow. Robert Thorburn 
is his attorney in these matters. It'll be all right. 

Senator Morse. I'll be glad to co-operate with him. 

Mrs. Morse. I'll still continue to stand up for Mr. 
Merwin. 

Bullard. Well, Merwin doesn't care who sings the 
songs of a country so long as he can underwrite its bond 
issues 

Victor. Merwin 's scale has only one note, then ! 

Bullard. What's that? 

Victor. Dough ! Eh ! 

Mary. [Patronizingly. "[ Clever! 

Bullard. That's good ! 

Alice. With the music of life a monotone ! 

Victor. That makes it real harm money ! Eh ! 

Mrs. Havorbee. Victor. Do be serious! 

Mary. He is ! 

Victor. {Turning to Mary with a conquering smile.'] 
Thank you. [Noting that attention continues, Victor 
makes another start.] The Suffragettes have reached 
Washington at last. 

Mrs. Havorbee. They are brave women. 

Mrs. Morse. In what way? 

Mrs. Havorbee. Because they do not fear prejudice. 

Victor. The English women don't fear anything. Eh ! 

Mrs. Morse. They don't fear even God! 

Victor. They certainly put the rage in suffrage. 

Mrs. Havorbee. Our women are wiser; they use smiles 
[Giving a sample] instead of brickbats. We are the 7-age! 

Victor. What has that got you ! 

Mrs. Havorbee. Politically, not much ! Until the 
men's parties recognize us we sliall have to work as best 



76 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

we can through our own weak women's organization. But 
equal suffrage is not a sex right. It is a human right. It 
is the right of self-government. The women's party would 
benefit all political parties. It would drive out all politi- 
cians who would restrict the common rights. 

Victor. Say, Alice, to what party does your father be- 
long? Eh! 

BuLLAED. That's doubtful. It's hard to tell where 
anybody belongs — eh, Senator? 

Alice. Mother hasn't any doubt at all. 

BuLLARD. How's that? All parties look alike to me. 
They all want to regulate business out of existence. It'll 
be all right. 

Alice. Ma says she's the party. 

Flint. Good ! 

Alice. Thank you, Uncle Sam. 

Victor. Is that joke on you or me, Mr. Bullard? Eh! 

BuLLARD. Both, I guess. 

Senator Morse. And on me, too ; but it's no joke. 

Victor. Here's one for you, Mary. Eh ! 

Alice. [Nervously.] Well? 

Victor. Why is the machine politician really for equal 
suffrage? Eh! 

Mrs. Havorbee. He isn't. 

Victor. Yes, he is. Even in Mexico. Eh ! 

Alice. Go ahead. We'll let you tell us. 

Victor. Well, in Mexico, the women aren't permitted 
to vote and the men don't dare. That's practical equality. 

Flint. There's many a Mexico right here in the United 
States. German Liquor Interests hold a veto on all Amer- 
ican votes — of private citizens, candidates, and officials. 

Mrs. Morse. Women may do much useful, practical 
work in politics without the vote. 

Senator Morse. And we'd be better off with less vot- 
ing and more public service. Every public business should 
be run by the government. There should be no esprit de 
corps in this country less broad than patriotism ! 



TEE WASTREL HOARD. 77 

BuLLARD. You are planning a government for work, 
Senator. You can't do that with the present school of poli- 
ticians. These Jacks-in-Office only know how to chew the 
rag, graft, take orders, and traffic in public jobs at three 
times the value of the service — and — in the votes of the 
mob. It's bad enough outside with the labor unions, but in 
public jobs, if they were paid by piece work, they wouldn't 
earn their salt. We are paying now to thousands of re- 
tired bartenders more than to generals and college presi- 
dents. The civil service is, to say the least against it, a 
nest of privileged incapacity and inexperience. Admit all 
this — they are really paid, not for work, but for the place 
they take in the organization. 

Senator Morse. That's the beauty of my plan. It will 
make unnecessary this organization. It will breed a new 
school. That is the deeper fact. The disintegration of 
proprietary political parties must proceed in exact pro- 
portion to the growth of the civil service. In a settled civil 
service, the public could get ten times the result and give 
honest, steady jobs, that families are brought up on, to 
five times the number of men for the present outlay. Each 
would become, thus, a soldier for the public good, and, as a 
pledge of devotion to the nation that keeps him and his in 
peace, would assume an obligation to fight for that peace, 
both in preventing and ending war. It's the present way 
of running the government that makes politics just a waste- 
ful business war to keep the politicians alive. Eliminate 
the saloon, Bullard, as the cornerstone of politics, and 
divide up the fifty per cent, tribute by officeholders, be- 
tween them and the government. It is alcohol that has de- 
teriorated men and government and private and public 
business for centuries. It menaces the very nation. 

Bullard. Government's chief work now is minding 
somebody else's business. 

Senator Morse. And somebody else is interested to 
control the government. Your friends make allies of the 
practical politicians. They can't be good Americans. 



78 TEE WASTREL EOARD. 

BuLLARD. We own the soft impeachment. When there's 
one gim between two duellists, it's suicide to let the other 
fellow get it. This is the age of "steal." 

Senator Morse. That's a hint for the public. 

BuLLARD. We despise them as grafters, yet, I suppose, 
the alliance seems natural. You remember Ingomar, Sen- 
ator — "Two souls " 

Flint. {Cutting in on Bullard^s speech, hacking his 
chair off for action, and commanding Bullard^s silence and 
the attention of the rest.] Yes, yes, Mr. Bullard, I saw 
Ingomar. "Two souls with but a single thought — [Flint 
becomes dramatic, looks skyicard, puts both hands to his 
heart and raises them ivith the speech in the direction of 
his gaze] — "Two hearts that beat as one." 

Mary. [With cruel dryness, and conscious of stealing 
her father's political '"business," as he has stolen that of her 
profession.] To beat the American people. 

[At the word ''American/- Mary unconsciously 
picks up the small flag at her place and toys with 
it nervously between her speeches.] 

Bullard. They use the politicians primarily as a means 
of getting meddlers to let their activities alone. Those who 
stir up discontent are enemies of the people. We say, in 

the language of Burke : "Applaud us " 

[Flint interrupts Bullard as before and completes 
the quotation.] 

Flint. 

"Applaud us when we run, console us when we fall, 
Cheer us when we recover, but let us pass on, for 
God's sake, let us i)ass on." 

Bullard. [Taking the interruption good-naturedly.] 
That's it. What the rich do is of no concern of the public. 
Envy of another's prosperity is the world's greatest men- 
ace. Millionaires are but the froth upon the beer of our 
political system. [Sardonically.] Chance, as a realty 
owner, is but a ground swell on the social sea. 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 79 

Victor. That's my point of view. Large fortunes and 
big business are inseparable incidents of general prosper- 
ity. The average poor man lives happily and respectably. 
That is all / can hope to do. I enjoy the luxuries of life 
but / am ivilling to do without the necessities. / sympa- 
thize with the poor, but the trouble is their poverty is so 
habitual, you simply can't help them. But, then, as a 
matter of fact, even poverty has a lot of advantages. 

Mary. It takes a mighty rich man to see them. 

BuLLARD. The world's work must go on. 

Mary. And leave humanity in the rut. 

Victor. My part may not equal 

[Bullard holds up his hand to check Victor.] 

BuLLARD, Stop! Never apologize for yourself — until 
you have accomplished something — and then — well, you 
w^on't need to. 

Alice. It seems to me that the doings of the rich are 
matters of vital public concern. The burdens of inequality 
rest very lightly upon the rich. 

Victor. [Without meaning, looking at Mrs. Havob- 
BBE^ and as if floored.] And upon the women? Eh ! 

Mary. Upon some women. 

Alice. Are not women equal to men? 

Victor. Some of them are equal to anything. Eh ! 

Mrs. Havorbeb. Indeed they are — and often where 
men are not. The men do let you pass on, Mr. Bullard. 
The women won't. When lovely woman stoops to folly! 

Bullard. The women don't now. But they have their 
own methods. 

Mrs. Morse. Their influence is through the home. 

Bullard. Not always. Some work outside. 

Mrs. Morse. Indeed ! That's unwomanly. It's a men- 
ace to society. 

Bullard. If they will play the fiddle, they must stand 
the music. Nature must have its course. 

Victor. As a menace, the modern girl-sport is — more 



80 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

deadly than the male. Eh! [Victob, emharrasted by 
shocked silence.] Why, every hotel in New York is a Hay- 
market ! 

Alice. [Pointedly.] If they'd only confine their at- 
tentions to one another. 

Mrs. Havoebeb. Let the Bowery at least be kept out of 
Fifth Avenue. Let them arrest the men! 

Flint. Correct ! They are a part of the home ! 

Mrs. Havorbee. The State is the larger home. Th« 
home isn't the four walls of the house. 

Mrs. Morse. In one way that is true. 

Mrs. Havorbee. Is woman's sphere the home when, 
outside, man has surrounded her children with evil? 

Mrs. Morse. Created, for the most part, my dear, by 
women, who are evil because they are outside the home. 

BuLLARD. [Persisting.] Or in other people's homes. 

Mrs. Morse. Perhaps that's better. 

Mrs. Havorbee. I'll tell you a secret. What the real 
suffrage leaders — of wealth and social position — want ia 
careers in politics — like their men. 

[BuLLARD directs his speech at Mary.] 

BuLLARD. When a woman knows her own mind about 
what concerns herself, it'll be time to turn it to what con- 
cerns others. 

Mrs. Morse. We should give the home a vote. 

BuLLARD. But in every case where husband and wife 
do not agree, the home would be disfranchised. Now the 
man casts the home vote. 

Mrs. Morse. If women are to vote, I'd have only moth- 
ers and fathers vote — and that in proportion to their con- 
tribution to the future. Ben Frauklin's mother would have 
had seventeen votes. Heaven forbid that the childless shall 
lead us. Parents would seldom disagree. The world talks 
much about brotherhood and just now it is sisterhood that 
desires to be heard, but both come only through fatherhood 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 81 

and motherhood and that is the key to all common in- 
terests in household and humanity. 

[BuLLARD continues to direct his words at Mary.] 

BuLLARD. That's it. Only the woman whose own house 
is in order, should come into the open to iiscuss public 
morals. A man may be produced against her ! 

[Mrs. Morse notes Bullari/s attitude, senses a 
purpose, and watches Bullard narrowly.] 

Mary. Do you work in the open? 

[Mary clenches the flag in her right hand.] 

Bullard. [With feigned jocularity.] Oh, I'm known 
to be harmless. Nobody fears, for instance, I'd steal an- 
other man's wife or come between friends. 

Mary. Is it for that the rest must be forgiven you? 

Bullard. To one who would, nothing can be forgiven. 
Her shame is of the light, not of the thing. She'd sell her 
soul to save her name. She is admired but craves respect. 

Mary. The weak woman is the tell-tale of your unfit- 
ness. As an evil, you are no more necessary than the other. 
A single instance at your own door is an earthquake. Yet 
the conditions which foster all vice are your own creation 
and its untold profits go with your permission to the po- 
litical machine; your friends could wipe out the liquor 
traffic and all that goes with it by one stroke of the pen. 
In that, as in everything, you don't ask why there is 
poverty and vice; need is the one motive in extenu- 
ation you will not accept. To you the tragedy is but an 
episode while every true woman feels it might well be her 
own story I Our "best people' drive the poor to vice and 
try to segregate it and them — together. Therein and in 
everything the great social crime of indifference does its 
work. To be calm is little better than to scoff! What 
woman is there who oughtn't to rise against this? 

Bullard. You don't ask her name? 

Mary. Yes — and name a man worthy to protest 



82 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

BuLLARD. [Jocosely.] The law of slander forgives 
everything save the mention of names. 

[The flag in Maey^s hand hecomes conspicuous as 
she gesticulates.] 

KussELL. [Quietly, to urge Mary to desist.] Please! 

Mrs. Morse. Mary, dear! 

Flint. Daughter ! 

Mary. [During this speech Mary uses the flag uncon- 
sciously in her gestures.] No, I shall not be silent! I 
shall make my voice heard in behalf of those who have been 
voiceless. [Mrs. Havorbbb shows interest, rises, and com- 
mences to clap her hands.] When amid general homeless 
ness and helplessness women seek their selfish rights, they 
complete the tragedy of this generation. [Mrs. Havorbeb 
sits down without applauding and shows a lack of inter- 
est, hut Mrs. Morse gives a sign of apjyroval.] Trouble is 
like the air, not to be confined. When any suffer, everybody 
pays. Our "poor little rich boy" [Victor looks at her ques- 
tioningly and all eyes are turned on him] hopes to live 
happily and respectably — as the average poor man does. 
[Victor looks relieved and nods approval. Flint and Bul- 
lard rivet their eyes on Mary,] The average poor man has 
a home. It is a small place, but there are those who love 
it, and that is what makes the world happy and respectable 
— despite the discouragement to decent living which grind- 
ing poverty in the midst of maddening opulence brings. 
[Russell has shown anxiety about Mary's ability to carry 
it off up to this point, but he assumes and maintains an 
attitude of growing confidence and admiration. Victor 
looks nettled.] "Sir Youthful" — despite his condescension 
— never had a home, and though he multiply his unused 
villas, mansions, and palaces, he never can have one and 
can never knovi^, doomed as he is to think forever about 
himself, the peace, the intimate joys, [Victor appears at 
first interested and then fascinated. The others become 
respectful and attentive] which, despite the privations and 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 83 

the hunger they endure to keep him in luxuries, even the 
starved child-souls of the poorest family in his thousand 
ill-kept tenements know. 

[Victor visibly weakens in his dissent and sinks into 
his seat. Bullakd notes the change in Victoe's 
attitude. Senator and Mrs. Morse exchange 
glances, disclosing concern for their duties (W 
hosts. BULLARD shows alarm and decides to haz- 
ard an inquiry.] 

BuLLARD. Are you speaking with knowledge of par- 
ticular facts? 

[Mary rises to her feet hut answers ivithout looking 
at Bullard, as if assuming the interruption to he 
captious; her attitude toward Bullard discloses 
a trace of cunning.] 

Mary. No good man could be happy with so much 
money while so many are without the chance of such a life. 
[Bullard appears relieved. Victor parses his hand over 
his eyes as if to dispel a distressing thought. Alice studied 
him with tense eagerness.] Each million of his estate rep- 
resents one thousand children cheated of their birthright, 
the foundation torn from a thousand homes, and the whole 
represents one young man, the plaything of his own desires, 
and of the schemes of financial jackals, robbed of the com- 
mon birthright, the power to work out his own salvation. 
[Victor staggers as a prisoner receiving a jury's verdict of 
conviction. Alice is visibly moved by his pain, hut pleased 
at his sensitiveness to the criticism. Mary takes in this 
situation, gives a sign of letting up on Victor, and turns 
icith bitterness to Bullard.] That's what big fortunes 
mean — the birthright of the people sacrificed to the alleged 
birthright of the over-rich. And the Bullard Pacific Bill 
is what they mean in politics ; it is the culmination of the 
conspiracy against the average home. [Bullard rises. 
Flint turns to give him a look of challenge. Bullard 
shrugs his shoulders as if to say, ^^Whaf's the use?"] While 



84 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

millions are habitually underfed, there are thousands who 
see the money coming in so fast they don't know what banks 
or bonds to put it in. Vast sums of money give men power, 
not only over things but over people; property in vast 
amounts should be as little subject to inheritance in a free 
country as political power. The rich now make the poor 
pay them for the right to live and poor men are not ashamed 
to do it. You buy each at his price, man or woman. But 
children can't pay, and the tax on their right to live is 
murder. Women who can be indifferent to their own trag- 
edies but not to this are what the future of America de- 
mands — not those who can tolerate the perpetual multipli- 
cation of monej without effort by its possessors and the 
almost annihilation of individual power to rise. Let you 
pass on! When you let the coming generation pass on! 
When you give back what has been taken ! Applaud us if 
we run ; console us, if we fall ; cheer us if we recover, and let 
us pass on ; for God's sake, let us pass on. [Mary weakens, 
turns her gaze from Bullard to her father, and talks more 
slowly. Russell pushes his chair hack and gets ready to 
move toward Mary. She frees herself from her chair and 
hacks atvay fro7}i the tahle, as if retreating from a dreaded 
ohject, and comes jyerilously near the edge of the stairs. 
Victor appears sympathetic and apprehensive.^ I demand 
it in the name of a race that is being preyed upon and con- 
sumed in the bud, of every woman who loves, who is a wife, 
who is a mother — [Mary gulps, her speech hccomes thick; 
she seems to have lost all sense of her surroundings] — and 
of the children, and — [Mary mumhles] — be it ever so hum- 
ble — [As if in despair] — infants — crying — they were born 
of a woman — just as Christ was born — [As if in terror] — 
no candle was there — and — [As if shivering] — no — tire — 
it is dark — [Weakly] — and bitter cold — they are human, 
too — and — [Mary faints and falls to the floor at the edge 
of the stairs, and, hefore those nearest can prevent, rolls to 
the hottom of the staircase.] 

Mrs. Morse. Help her, John! 



TEE WASTREL HOARD. 85 

[All start to crowd around her. Victor raises her 
and with Russell brings her down stage ani 
places her on the sofa. The flag is seen still to be 
clenched in Maey^s right hand.] 

Victor. [As if the situation had brought the young 
men suddenly into intimacy.] This girl's a brick! Isn't 
she, Russell? Eh! A regular major-general ! Isn't she? 
Eh! 

Russell. You are quite right, Victor — quite right. 

Mrs. Havorbee. [Bringing an untouched glass of 
cognac from the table.} A little drop of brandy helps— a— 
fall. 

Mrs. Morse. Let me have some water. Give us room. 
I'm sorry, but you would better go into the library. 

[As the guests go out by door at bach of banquet 
room, the chimes strike once and the distinctness 
of the sound indicates the opening and closing of 
the door. A short interval afterward the smaller 
clock strikes twice. Then the clock above is heard 
to strike twice; then once the clock below.] 

Senator Morse. Shall we call Doctor Childs? 

Mrs. Morse. It isn't necessary. She has only fainted. 
SheUl be all right in a moment, 

Mary. I want my mother. I want to go home to my 
mother. 

[Mrs. Morse speaks to the musicians and they go 
out silently at the right.] 

Mrs. Morse. She'll be all right now. [She goes over to 
Senator Morse.] John, I believe Bullard brought this on 
deliberately. The girl has a secret. We must help her 
keep it — even from ourselves. 

Senator Morse. You are one woman in a million. 
[Russell and Victor leave Mary as Flint ap- 
proaches. Bullard engages Russell in conversa- 
tion. 1 



86 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

BuLLARD. Let me give you a last warning. Be careful 
of other people's reputations or you will lose yours — and 
perhaps more. Beware of the black list. Merwin never 
forgets. Many a man in just your situation has been found 
missing. Good God ! My boy ! Can't you see I am think- 
ing only of you? 

[Russell remains silent hut stares after Bullaed 
as BuLLARD goes out.] 

Flint. That's right, daughter. We'll go together. 
Will you forgive me? 

Mary. There's nothing to forgive. You were right. 
But I can't go back. / — must — go forward. 

[Senator Morse goes up to Flint and puts Ms right 
hand on Flint^s shoulder.] 

Senator Morse. Sam, there should be n^ place like 
home for a girl. It's our fault if that isn't so. 

Flint. What a girl I have brought up ! And I never 
suspected it! She has actually introduced me to myself I 

Senator Morse. The coming generation must always 
be a closed book to us. We wonder that they dance because 
we no longer hear the music in their souls. 

Flint. And I wanted to imprison my girl in a. small 
town. She's an old man's child. Our children inherit all 
our experience. We scarcely notice how they grow ! 

Senator Morse. She's done what I told you to do, 
Sam — come to New York. The country's growing, too I 

Flint. No big city for me. I prefer to live in America. 

Senator Morse. We are cosmopolitan. It's within us ! 

Flint. You are a cluster of Ghettoes, little Italics, 
Sokols, singing societies, and turn vereins. 

Senator Morse. Well, for the girl's sake. It is hard 
for a girl to stay alone and no "pent-up Utica" will ever 
confine her powers. She's a typical American girl ! 

Flint. Or America, either. Even as a child, she 
seemed to see the whole wide world! Is that American? 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 87 

Senator Morse. Let's send her to Europe. By Jove I 
The Merwin scholarship! Now, I wonder if Bullard 

Flint. [As if rising to great generosity.^ I'll pay 
myself. I've a good will to do it! It would really be a 
j^ood investment ! 

Senator Morse. She wouldn't take it. 

Flint. Tell her I am opposed to it. That will decide 
her all right. 

Senator Morse. I'll go further. I'll make her win in 
competition. 

PYint. I'll never again doubt her ability to do any- 
thing. 

Senator Morse. That's the way for a father to talk. 
You should have started that years ago. 

Mrs. Morse. We must leave her alone for a while. 
[All go out excepting Russell, who has escaped the 
ohservation of the rest. The lights are dimmed. 
The scene is the same as at the rising of the cur- 
tain. 1 

Russell. Are you all right? 

Mary. [Rising. Her manner betrays the fact that her 
fainting and acting icere not purely voluntary. She con- 
iinues to make us of the flag.] I didn't faint. I was act- 
ing; Bullard threatened us and I was afraid. The swoon 
was a checkmate to his cruel play and — such a relief to me ! 
The temptation was great. There was father. I wanted to 
let him know my views, and I wanted to give you your pro- 
gram. Now you know that I can act, and I know that I 
jiiust. Think of it, the pretense, the deception, the simu- 
lated courage, and to have to rise above it all and conquer. 
I will pray God for strength — to — deceive — and I shall 
v.ork with all my being to grow in power and charm and 
influence, to match the resources of Bullard's friends and 
to undermine him in the end. I can afford to sing now. I 
shall be acting every moment of my life. What a plot ! An 
unfortunate girl against the hold-up of the human race. 
T seem to carry the whole world in my breast, to touch the 



88 TEE WASTREL HOARD. 

stars, and possess the infinite. I feel as if all the American 
girls in Christendom and all those that are to be were 
standing here within me and as if all American spirit were 
mine, and the world my stage. What a marvellous curtain ! 
What a brilliant audience! On one side are they. The 
curtain is drawn aside. On the other side am I. The 
theatre of life. I'll do a woman's part. 

EussBLL. You are the most womanly of all women. 

Mary. No. I am too like father. That's what I blame 
him for, and that's why he blames me. 

Russell. "Out of strength comes sweetness." You'll 
let me take care of you, won't you? Tell me what it is 

Mary. No. 

Russell. But I have the right. 

Mary. That's just why 

[Mary checks herself. Russell holes at her in- 
quiringly.] 

Russell. Yes ? 

Mary. I mean 

Russell. What? 

Mary. Well, when I was a little girl and father wished 
to be cross to mother and to me, mother always said, "Don't 
let the child suffer. She is innocent. Whatever the sins 
of parents, no one has rights against children. They don't 
ask to come. The whole world owes duties toward them." 
I believed that then. I know it now. I am going away. 
Your duties are here. I know you will do yours. You may 
trust me to do mine. No child will be without its chance, 
if I have my way. You — must go now. 

[Mary turns from Russell and walks toward the 
door. Russell watches her for a moment, then 
calls to her softly.] 

Russell. Mary! [Mary turns, the moonlight is ob- 
scured.] Mary ! One last kiss. 

[Mary walks toward the window. Russell comes 
up to her. Mary faces Russell.] 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 89 

Mary, You are a man, aren't you? Lock your arms 
behind you and keep them there. Remember — one ! [Mary 
puts a hand on each of Russell^s shoulders and kisses him 
on the lips. Russell stands his ground.] You are a man. 

Russell. My arms don't think so ! 

Mary. Be proud of them. They beckon and caress from 
there ! 

Russell. Have you nothing to tell me? 

Mary. That / shall have a saving pride. 

Russell. There's a reservation working against me in 
your mind. 

Mary. If there were, it would not be so hard for me. 

Russell. Will you write to me? 

Mary. No. That is not in my role. 

Russell. May I write to you? 

Mary. What a question to ask! 

Russell. And you will once in a while? 

Mary. No. I will come back. I have had faith. It is 
your turn now. [Mary swallows, braces herself, assumes 
an attitude of great firmness, turns her face from Russell. 
wheels around, points to the door he is facing and speaks in 
a hard, unnatural voice.] Good-bye. 

Russell. [Twrns to look at her as if to plead, struggles 
with himself, yields, speaks in a voice full of sadness, ten- 
derness, and respect.] Good-bye. [Turns, hoios his head, 
and walks out of the door without turning again.] 

Mary. [Looking after Russell and speaking, in a soh, 
only after he ha^ gone.] Russell ! Russell ! ! 

[Mary stands a moment, faces the audience, hursts 
into tears, kneels hy the divan, sobs and suggests 
that she is praying. She bows her head. As her 
head falls, her lips touch the flag held in her 
folded hands. Awakened to consciousness of the 
flag, she regards it a moment through her tears, 
raises it slightly in both hands, lets it drop, raises 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 90 

her head, swallows, assumes an attitude of reso- 
lution, brightens up, and looks for a considerable 
time into space, as if into the future, until the 
fall of the curtain.] 

Curtain. 



ACT III. 



Before the rising of the curtain, the orchestra plays 
selections from Madame Butterfly, the ''Tavan" ar- 
rangement, with emphdsis upon and recurrence to the 
melody of "Un bel di vedremo." 



Andante motto calmo. J . 12 

B)Mtr/}y. 



^gM 



p P ff I r ^ 



^ 



One. 
tti„ 



fine day well no - • ticc 
M di, tt - drt - aw, 



A 

U •• 



thread of amoke a - ris - ing on the aaa In Ibt far bo • 

cor • titm fil di fu - tna sui - iV • tin • ma cm-fin det 



ri - - XOD, 


And 


then 


ma - re. 


£ 


foi.... 


n 0.POCCIN1. 







the ahip ap - pear * iuz- 
la na - etafi - fa - re.... 



CcvnUIMSMtf lUkerO a Oo. 

new BiaiiaB.Cci7rl(Iil 190eti7 ajHocr4i a<^ 




fly fie Tly^d^f/.. 



'yeace^ 






fy^i- (J/'ya'Tic-e 



7' Wc? ^y^a-ce lyaccc 



ACT III. 

The Ante-Chamber of the Uall of Arbitrations of the Palace 
of Peace, at The Hague, two years and five months after 
the close of Act II. The stage is divided as in the first 
and second Acts, the principal room being at the back 
of the stage on a higher level than the Ante-Chamber, 
and seen through a wide door in the centre of the stage. 
Over the bench and extending its full width is an im- 
pressive symbolic oil painting. It is the allegorical 
group of the great French painter, Albert Besnard, 
entitled '^ Peace." A female figure is seen seated, lis- 
tening to the pleadings of two litigants. One of these 
is arguing with vehemence, and the woman lifts a 
hand to stop him that she 7nay hear the other pleader. 
Below arc two armed icarriors, tcho, their differences 
having been settled, ride off in opposite directions. In 
the foreground, and seemingly detached from the rest 
of the composition, the symbolic figure of Peace rises 
as an apparition carrying a child in her arms. The 
Hall of Arbitrations is lighted as if by sunlight 
streaming through stained-glass tvindows extending 
the entire left side. The walls of the Ante-Chamber 
are in grey Delft tiles. At the right, just outside 
the Court Room door, is a temporary telegraph office. 
As persons cross the stage and enter the Court 
Room, they remain visible in the Court Room through 
the door. The movement of pages, attendants and 
lackeys preparing the Court Room, is visible through- 
out the act, but they are out of earshot. The characters^ 
of the play can be heard and observed, as in the first 
and second acts, both far and near, and from their first 
coming into view are seen talking and fully occupied 
with what concerns them, using the words of the play 
only from the moment they come within earshot. At the 
left of the door are telephone booths. In the centre 



9i THE WASTREL HOARD. 

is a table with periodicals and newspapers ar- 
ranged in rows. Leather-covered easy chairs are 
in convenient positions. Leading from the rear of 
the telegraph office is a door. The interior of the 
telegraph office is visible to the audience through a 
glass door, so placed as not to bring the interior of the 
• office within the view of persons on the stage. Portraits 
of William the Silent, Jan Van Olden-Barneveldt, and 
Hugo Grotius decorate the walls of the Ante-Chamber. 
National arms and flags are in appropriate positions. 
Tulips, hyacinths, gladiolas, and other Dutch flowers 
are here and there in profusion. 
As the curtain rises slowly, the impressive scene is dom- 
inated by the figure of the woman with babe in arms 
in the foreground of the painting "Peace-', upon which 
the sunlight streaming through the unseen windows 
at the right sheds a. flood of glory. Throughout this 
Act and the next, this poignant figure, in wonderful 
relief against the background of the painting, seems 
to sense the situations that develop within her view 
and to set up against what is said a contrasting view- 
point, quite unlike that of blind Justice with the scales, 
symbolized by the balance of olive branch and child. 
F^or a moment after the rising of the curtain the situa- 
tion is static. The click of a telegraph instrument calls 
attention to Hugo Culp_, seated behind the counter ex- 
plaining the Morse code to small red-cheeked boys by 
ticking out a telegram and repeating as follows: 

— . . . B . — A . . . R . .0 — . N. ''Baron." 
. . . . H . . — U . G . . O. "Hugo." . . . — 

V . — A — . N. ''Van." — . . D . E . . . — 

V . E — . N — T . E . . . R. "Deventer." 

....H .—A .G ..— U .E. "Hague." 

L . — A — .. D .. .. Y. "Lady." . —A 

. . . R . . . R . . I ... — V . E . . . S. "Arrives." 
H .—A .G ..— U .E. "Hague." 

— T . . O — . . D . - A . . . . Y. "Today." 



THE WAHTREL HOARD. 95 



M —A . .. R 


.. .. Y 


. E. «] 


yfarye." 


^ M . E . .. 


R .. I . 


,. . C 


. —A 


N. "American." . — 


-A 


M — 


... B 


A ... S ... S . 


— A — 


.. D 


. . 


R. "Ambassador." . 


.. R .. 


— I; 


... S 



. . . S . . I . — A. "Russia." The sound of the 
closing of a door is heard. Gulp rises quickly, signals 
and says, '"Ga in het Kantoor" to the hoys, loho hasten 
into the office, and, still holding the telegram in his 
hand, busies himself examining the fixtures of his office 
and testing the apparatus. Gulp keeps the telegram 
always in evidence until he finally shotvs it to Mary. 
As he moves about he alternately whistles and hums 
and sings a Dutch song. He wears a pointed heard 
and flowing moustache and dresses his hair in imita- 
tion of Grotius. Gulp is of giant stature, has a very 
hearty laugh, that is infectious, and an easy sense of 
humor that sets off his laughter at the least excuse. 
The first action is the entrance of Mary and the entire 
significance of her intervention in the situation in this 
Act and the next is expressed in her grasp of the identity 
of her attitude with that of the figure of "Peace." At 
every opportune moment, from her first step into the 
Court-Room, Mary fairly devours the painting toith 
her gase. 

[Enter Mary, from the left, gowned in the latest 
fashion, ^he is accompanied by Norah, a maid, 
disguised as a lady. There is about Mary an at- 
mosphere of charm, poicer, and perfection — of the 
American girl become the exquisite cosmopolitan 
woman of intellect, smartness, and distinction. 
There is a suggestion of sensuous allurement and 
of possible passion controlled by a will of steel, 
and tempered by a pliant and keen humor. She 
radiates a magnetism wholly feminine. This is 
evidenced by the attitude of Gulp, icho is him- 



96 TEE WASTREL HOARD. 

self unobserved hy Mary^ and has interrupted his 
song at her entrance. In her first glance about 
the Ante-Chamher and Court Room she runs the 
whole gamut of facial expression. At her first 
pause, her splendid changing eyes, full of storm 
and color, drift from the sea gray of an autumn 
sky to the piercing whiteness of the fixed gaze of 
the American eagle — then, smiling, sweetly, sadly, 
and tenderly in succession, as if in joy at the at- 
tainment of a goal long sought, and in reminis- 
cence and anticipation combined, she suggests 
not only control of her forces for summoning and 
communicating emotion, but how wonderful these 
forces are. Before Mary is fairly on the stage, 
she stops, turns to Norah, and addresses her in 
a low tone — almost with bated breath.] 

Mary. This — this is the place, Norah — the Hall of 
Arbitrations. 

Norah. Yes, madame. 

Mary. Now, you drive right back to Scheveningen, 
Norah, and remain at the cottage every moment until I 
come — no bathing, even. 

Norah. Yes, madame. 

Mary. And keep Miss Fanning within call when she 
goes on the beach. 

NoRAH. Yes, madame. 

Mary. In answer to all inquiries, you are stupid for- 
eigners ; you know nothing, understand nothing. 

Norah. Yes, madame. 

Mary. And if you have no word from me over night, 
seek out Senator Morse here and inquire. 

Norah. Yes, madame. 

Mary. That's all, Norah, Yon may go. 

Norah. Very well, madame. 
[Noeah turns to go.] 

Mary. And, Norah 



TEE WASTREL HOARD. 



97 



NoRAH. Yes, madame. 

Mary. Be careful — of — the night — air — you know. 

[NoRAH smiles as she goes out.] 
NoRAH. Yes, madame, I know. Good-bye, madame. 
Mary. Good-bye, Norah. 

[Mary looks about cautiously and goes into the 
Court Room. Finding that room empty, she returns 
and observes Culp_, ivho, having tvatched her suf- 
ficiently while her hack was turned, now resumes 

CULP. [Singing. "l 



mau 




L O NeKjerltuidl let op a saedc. De tyt en stoat la <]•«, Op-dat na is < 




bo«ck Diet neck U riilbeit die voorwier XJ oodan b«Ui«o dier gecocbt Uet go«t «o bloet ao 




le-ven: Waotay werd nu gutacb eo t^ e»nemMl geeocbt Tot Diet te z\]Dver ■ b»TaD. 




Neemt acbt op uwer Ludeo etact, 

U volck end* 8t«deo Dieeet 
8^0 sttjck end' daer is raet eo daot 

Vao 0Dt3 altyt geweut 
V adel is macbaftich Troom, 
Ken viud met ba«n gelijcktoi 
*^nC <lei> Spatuaert docb, \tk bid u, in deo tboom 
Dat tj) van ods «acb wi)ckaD. 



Beecbut, bescbemt, bewaard d tand. 

Let op bet Spaecscb bedrogl 
E)), Uet Diet oemeo utJt u baud 

V PrevtJegieD tocbi 
Uaar tbooot u eick eao man vol raoet 
Id 't boudeo vao u watten, 
BoTci al dieol Ood eo valt bem steata la voa 
Dat bit op u oiacb letteo. 



98 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

his song and pretends to he busy with the appara- 
tus. He assumes an air of importance. Maey 
sings the Dutch song inaudihly in time with Culp, 
and with appropriate facial expression and ges- 
tures. At the last bar she sings the words and 
music with him. As he stops singing, she ad- 
dresses him, saying : "Good morning" to him suc- 
cessively in Dutch, German, French, Spanish, 
Italian, and Russian.] 

Mary. Goedenmorgen, Meneerl Guten morgen, mein 
Herr! Bon jour, Monsieur! Buenos dias, Cahallero! 
Buon giorno, Signor! Dobroie outro, Gospodin! Bejour! 
{At each salutation Culp, pretending not to hear, 
turns from one instrument to another. As Mary 
becomes petulant, Culp^s amusement becomes ap- 
parent. He has the sense of coming enjoyment 
which always accompanies restraint in a Dutch- 
man's conversation and an anticipatory relish of 
long-winded discourse. Suddenly he turns about, 
with mirth ill-concealed.] 

CULP. Good morning, Miss, what can I do for you? 

Mary. You speak English? 

Gulp. No. [Leaning on the counter and assuming an 
attitude in imitation of a Yankee country storekeeper, into 
ivhich character Gulp drops in order to "point" the "com- 
edy" or to afford relief for the preaching, when the situa- 
tion permits, which character, however, is abjured for the 
pose of majesty when the preaching requires dignity or a 
flight of eloquence rises "to the height of this great argu- 
ment."] I speak American. 

Mary. Are you in charge of this telegraph office? 

Gulp. I am. 

Mary. And an American? 

Gulp. I was born a Dutchman, went to New York, be- 
came an American citizen, came back to Holland, and be- 
came a Dutchman again. 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 



99 



Mary. Whenever I hear a man whistling, I can't tell 
whether he's a Yankee or a Dutchman. 

CuLP. If he wets his whistle 

To keep up his Dutch courage ? 



Mary. 

CULP. 

Mary. 
better. 
Gulp. 



He is an American still. 
Please say ''Still an American." It sounds 



I have been both. 
[Mary laughs.] 
Mary. That is a Dutch defense ! You mean both Dutch 
and American? Which do yon call your country now? 
Gulp. I came home to get married. 
Mary. "The Girl I Left Behind Me." 
men march into battle by. 

Gulp. I marched back home to it. 
bars of the popular Dutch song.] 

''In Holland staat een huts; 
In Holland staat een huis." 
[A page hoy comes out of the telegraph office, whis- 
tling "Wien Neerlandsch Bloed."] 



That's the tune 
[Gulp sings the 



l^fj^ 


rt+f=F= 


± JTj j . 


H^4-&d 


H^^Vn 


f 


i 3 r r 1 
— 1 — J— « — »■ 


^ ft. 


s g r -!^ 


r ' 


*HfMi '— 


^^ 


"- 1 I — ' 


^M 


= • rzr-r—. 




,^1,... ^J^^J) 




rm 


J It 1 


J fTt J- 




r^^^^ 


^^ 


^k 


=?.=4^ 


-\ r\ jr 


-« i 

-i »-^ 




' r r 

r r . Ij' 


^ - 


-r 1 t *■ 


-y — 


iNn==-=^ 


-^ — Mi — 


^^ 


'i-rrrjd 


U—h- 



100 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

[Gulp turns quickly and says to him in Dutch, 
''Genoeg gefloeten. Ga in het hantoorJ^ The hoy 
hursts out laughing, and says, "Ja, Meneer," 
hows low, turns and goes into the telegraph office. 
These hoys are very young and have round faces, 
tcith fat flaming red cheeks.] 

Mary. How many windmills did her father offer? 

Gulp. I came for her alone. I couldn't stay away. 
A man's country is where his best girl is. Love is needing. 
That is what makes children's love so beautiful. And 
patriotism ! All are parts of the same — sweet song ! 

Mary. Pardon me, Mr. 

Gulp. Gulp, Miss, Hugo Gulp, named for Hugo De 
Groot [Gulp points to the portrait of Grotius], author of 
"The Law of War and Peace," written while the Pilgrim 
Fathers were shooting the Redskins, whom Penn, likewise 
the author of a plan for the Peace of Europe, conquered 
M'ith brotherly love. De Groot's book, of all works not 
claiming divine inspiration, has proved the greatest bless- 
ing to humanity, and more than any other has promoted 
the blessings of peace and diminished the horrors of war. 
[Mary smiles at this recital and prepares to fence.'] 

Mary. Indeed — and what made you take me for an 
American ? 

Gulp. It's tulips and tomboy in blend — full-blown. 
When my little girl grows up I'm going to send her to 
America to get it. 

Mary. [Thrown off her guard, and with awakened in- 
terest.] How old is she? 

Gulp. Four, next December. 

Mary. And a boy? 

Gulp. He'll be two, next Fourth of July. 

Mary. [Excitedly.] No ! Why, that's my — [Catching 
herself. She involuntarily clutches for an ohject at her 
corsage just above the heart as if to make sure of its pres- 
ence.] Why, you know what the Fourth of July is? Aren't 
boys dear ! 



TEE WASTREL HOARD. 101 

CuLP. It's been a boy year in Europe. They are dear, 
indeed. They are said to mean war. 

Maby. We never hear that — or any of this war lore. 

Gulp. Yet it affects you — and us, too. My boy 

Mary. If he had only been born in the United States. 
What would he not have been, had he been an American ! 

Gulp. I've thought of that ! You see, I have the Ameri- 
can spirit. 

Maey. What do you take to be the real American 
spirit? 

Gulp. Belief in yourself — faith in humanity ! 

Mary. Then, why did you leave the United States? 

[Gulp hesitates, then makes a gesture of making 
light of a serious subject and of hesitancy in 
speaking frankly.] 

Gulp. Too many closed avenues — too little living 
thought — I was too independent. I'm like the native wom- 
en — I couldn't be President — so I quit. 

Mary. One must be otherwise eligible. 

Gulp. Why, Europe's full of my kind. You couldn't 
assimilate them. 

Mary. But where is their allegiance? 

Gulp. To an idea. They want the government that 
stands for it. 

Mary. A symbol — what the American eagle stands for ! 

Gulp. The American eagle certainly stands for a lot. 

Mary. Would they fight against us? 

Gulp. Government's insurance is what it gives the peo- 
ple to fight for. Every labor union in America is an 
"International," and every leader, like his cousin german 
from Missouri, is waiting to be "shown." [The great hell in 
the tower of the Palace of Peace strikes eleven. Gulp pulls 
out his watch unconsciously and looks at it. Mary looks 
at her watch.] The new Liberty Bell, the most wondrous 
that ever clanged, proclaims "Peace Through Justice" for 
the Supreme Gourt of all the World. 



102 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Mary. While cannon proclaim this Palace "The Com- 
edy House of the World." 

Gulp. A world turning from tragedy at last. Just 
think ! Diplomats with wit ! 

Mary. That is not impossible. 

Gulp. The smallest grain of wit is the undoing of a 
politician. The dullards actually think Democracy serves 
only to give common politicians the chance to rob the pub- 
lic formerly monopolized by the nobility. Of human aspi- 
rations the diplomat takes no account. "Where your treas- 
ure is, there will your heart be also." Of real political 
and diplomatic aspirations, the common people, strangely, 
take no account. 

Mary. But should we expect mere place-holders to 
avert strife? War is an inheritance. 

Gulp. So was aristocracy. The two go together. The 
ruling classes will be consumed in their own wars. They 
are big-gun fodder now, as well as the rank and file. 

Mary. Down with the nobility — the lords of war? 

Gulp. Yes — permanent executives, permanent diplo- 
mats, permanent opulence, permanent warfare, to maintain 
them, and — permanent poverty! Governments are but 
weathervanes, the people are the air; when weathervanea 
stick, their use ends, and danger from the breeze com- 
mences. Aristocrats! It is descendants that ennoble. 
Ancestors are the commonest things in the world. My 
parents brought up fourteen children, and saw them all 
through Utrecht. That calls for higher qualities than all 
other feats I know. That's nobility here in the Land of 
the Stork — or anywhere else. 

Mary. [Stepping bach to look at ^^ Peace/'] That, in 
America, is unconstitutional ! 

Gulp. That's just it. It's an unnatural constitution 
that can't stand that strain and develop under it. The 
hand that rocks the cradle 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 



103 



[A second hoy comes out of the telegraph office, 
whistling "Wilhelmus Van Nassauwen."] 



Mtgrt. 






1 K 


■^, , 








1 .-t-l L— 


ir^ 




^ 


1-^ J' J) 


^N 


= 


^^ 




rf4# 


if- - *— 
/ 


^. *# f 


'-___ 




w ** 


1^ ' ^ 


^^ 


=5^-^ = 


-rJ=5=J 


-.^ 


^J 


1-^ f 1 



/ J J J J J # I _( ^__, ^ 




[Gulp ^wrns quickly and says to him in Dutch, "Niei 
meer fteuten! Ga in het kantoor." The hoy hursts 
out laughing, and says, "Ja, Meneer/' and hoios 
low, turns, and goes into the telegraph office.] 

Mary. [Laughing at Culp.] That's it! First, "let us 
have peace." The peace movement, too, is in its infancy. 
The Hague Tribunal is but the embryo of its judicial 
system. 

Gulp. The cause of peace thrives only in free countries. 
The power and influence and the example of America could 
make the whole world free and peaceful. For three hun- 
dred years, tiny Holland, surrounded by warring tyran- 
nies, made the fight alone for peace and democracy. 

Mary. And the United States first realized democracy. 



104 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Gulp. No. We gave America its government, its edu- 
cational system, its law, and its international policy. 

Mary. Jingo ! "We, the People of the World !" 

Gulp. Read the American Motley's "The Rise of the 
Dutch Republic," and "Jan Van Olden-Barneveldt." 
There's his portrait. [Gulp points to the portrait of Jan 
Van Olden-Barneveldt.] Why, we gave you the federal sys- 
tem of government. Jan Van Olden-Barneveldt, on the 
12th of May, 1619, had his head chopped off, not far from 
this very spot, because he believed in the little states' rights. 

Mary. [Going toward Gulp.] I know. That's what 
that old Dutch song of yours was about, wasn't it? 

Gulp. Yes. I am glad you know it. The whole world 
should. It is the song of liberties protected by the 
system of government our martyrs died for. And that 
system, — which unites conflicting elements, nationally 
or internationally, the most closely by simply dividing 
them the least — that system now in your keeping, gave 
to the world, for larger units, the basis for uniting 
the races of the world in eternal peace, in co-opera- 
tion, and in liberty and independence under the rule 
of law. It's the great shock-absorber on the road to 
bigger ideas in civil government, the answer to the men 
who do everything for themselves in the name of the state 
and say, "The state! It is I!" — and rely on destructive 
force as the sole basis of power and prosperity instead of 
the broader principles of justice and brotherhood through 
federation. The Pilgrim Fathers knew Van Olden-Barne- 
veldt; the founders of what is now New York were his 
friends. And Hugo De Groot, his young protege 

Mary. Just a word, please! 

Gulp. And in education and religious freedom 1 

Erasmus, a Dutchman, left the embryo of the modern 
spirit that Martin Luther dwarfed ! 

Mary. You'd never know that from the — the — noise. 
Gulp. True Ghristians should! 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 105 

Mary. [Going to look at "Peace/'] Judging from art, 
which 

Gulp. Yes? 

Mary. Reached its highest development 

Gulp. [Defiantly.] Where? 

Mary. [Teasing.] — in Holland, of course. In the red 
cheeks of Dutch babies. Art and the highest morality are 
one. The child rules public opinion, fleets, and armies. 

Gulp. Holland gave the world the first newspaper. 

Mary. To record 

Gulp. [Retorting.] — birth notices of red-cheeked in- 
fants — nothing else. 

Mary. [Absently.] Nothing else. 

Gulp. Holland gave the world the first public 
school 



Mary. [Coining hack.] For the babies. 

Gulp. And started public compensation for private in- 
equality. That was the beginning of modern justice. 

Mary. [Going toward Gulp.] For the poor parents. 

Gulp. In the immortal epoch when those of true Eng- 
lish mind struggled at home and even left home that the 
Bpirit-purpose of the race might extend throughout the 
world, Selden, their great jurist, said the sea belonged by 
divine right to certain governments — and that they owned 
it, top, sides and bottom ; De Groot said the sea was free, 
and that every nation has a natural right, so long as it 
conducts itself as a civilized State, to access to every other 
nation by water. No war was ever started by a whole 
people. Holland laid the foundation for peace. 

Mary. So that the parents could bring up the babies. 

Gulp. The United States took the Dutch idea and con- 
vinced England. 

Mary. Precisely. 

Gulp. The Dutch are the nearest cousins of the Eng- 
lish. The best part of the race is in Holland and America. 
We Dutch and — we — Americans — are — brothers. But a 
new influence has suppressed the old idea in America. 



106 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Mary. Within twenty years we have driyen Spanish 
pule from its last foothold in America. 

Gulp. Almost four hundred years ago Holland drove 
the Spanish system into its corner in Europe. 

Maey. But America 

Gulp. America, the offspring of the great renaissance 
of civil glory of England and of Holland, America, the 
embryo of the world empire of free institutions, of an ever- 
higher justice, and a larger freedom, an empire that gives 
every part its chance and scope to be its best, this America, 
offering vain resistance to everlasting racial traits, fosters 
the old system, while Holland keeps it out. 

Mary. Spain? 

Gulp. No. But it's the old system, away from which 
the world has been advancing for generations — a race of 
paupers, worked for the dynasts. War maims the body, but 
it fires the soul ; war kills the body, but it perpetuates the 
soul; pauperism starves the body, and it kills the soul. 
White slavery has many phases. War in defense of a free 
nation is holy I 

Mary. Lookout! [Conscious of plagiarism.] Beware 
of the fixed idea! I saw hordes of soldiers throughout 
Germany. "Have / not heard great ordnance in the field?" 

Gulp. [Reminiscing.] The fixed idea! A stock cau- 
tion of an old friend! [Returning to the fray.] Soldiers! 
These are only for manoeuvres. 

Mary. They may believe it. I can't. Well — if they 
are — what would war be? Who feeds the conscripts ! Look 
out for this white slavery. Guns are made to shoot. Even 
when nobody wants war, big guns go off of their own ac- 
cord. A little nation can be swallowed up and even their 
own descendants will not remember those who sleep in 
soldiers' graves. 

Gulp. Ys^e have no fear. We leave it to the great to 
ruin their people from fear. With us the military stand- 
point is identical with the humane one. 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 107 

Mary. Germans say the world's against the Father- 
land I 

Gulp. A hospital case — the fixed idea — the twin 
manias of grandeur and persecution — typical — Furor Teu- 
tonicus. Every sane nation is a Motherland! 

Mary. But Holland is always prepared? 

Gulp. Holland is for peace at any price — payable in 
advance. You strain at a gnat, we get the camel. 

Mary. [Going to look at ''Peace/'] Germans say war 
makes a race efficient. 

Gulp. But not for humanity. It reduces human beings 
through efficiency to the status of bees in somebody else's 
hive. Look out for your own dynasts. 

Mary. They are, at least, our own. 

Gulp. You are theirs — and they are aliens. No race 
was ever enslaved at home. We have no poor. 

Mary. But the land is fertile. 

Gulp. We redeemed it from the sea. Our proverb 
runs : "God made the sea, but we made the shore." And 
we've kept it ours. That's just it. And if the foreigner 
comes we'll consign it to the sea again. Poverty cannot 
exist where tulips bloom. America could take its deserts 
alone and keep the world in happiness and plenty, without 
the help of a single one of your two million child laborers. 
America could close its saloons and have two and a half 
billion dollars each year to make these children strong 
American men and women. Is that land yours? Learn 
about canals and irrigation from us. Gheap transportation 
is the keystone of the arch of popular well-being and canals 
are public ways. In Holland as in the United States the 
path of the canal boat marked the first current of national 
life on still waters that ran deep. Through it we have 
eliminated the middleman. No sell-out statesmen! No 
foreign bankers ! 

Mary. [Going toward Cvlp.] Ah I The underwriters ! 

Gulp. Because ours is ours, it yields us threefold in 
everything, in food, in happiness and 



108 



TEE WASTREL HOARD. 



Mary. And babies. That's why you came back. 

Gulp. Yes. And your unclaimed mines and forests 
alone would ransom humanity. But you are untrue to 
yourselves. Your unassimilated races are still owned by 
your men without a country, your alien, or denaturalized 
billionaires. 

Mary. But the American people 

Gulp. Beneath the surface, does not exist. With vast 
numbers you have become a surface people. Disgraceful 
realities don't bother you. You tolerate a civilization of 
saloon, and slum, and brothel, not your own. It isn't num- 
bers that beat tyrants. It's brains and character— and 

[A third hoy comes out of the telegraph office, whis- 
tling ^'Oranje Boven/'] 



I 


Audule 

iJlffl , 1 


r-i n 


F=F=T 










m M m 


fd 


^^ 


I- 


^ 




5=F^ 




vy.. ah 1 






> 






> 




4 




7 


-J — n- 


=x 


■^ 


V 


^ vt ^ 


y=^ 


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fci 






t± 


-\ 1 




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S 


V- 


t^ 


L_^-* 




[Gulp turns quicMy and says to him in Dutch, 
''Genoeg! Niet meer fieuten! Ga in het Kan- 
toorr The boy stops whistling, hursts out laugh- 
ing, and says, ''Ja, Meneer," and hows low, turns 
and goes into the telegraph office. Mary smiles 
at the interruption. 1 

Mary. And babies! Y^ou know all children love one 
another. [Going to look at "Peace.''] They are the really 
great diplomats. The test of a nation is its babies. 

Gulp. What chance will they have against the alien 
monopolies their free-born parents delivered them to? The 
fundamental postulate of democracy is the spiritual equal- 
ity of all men. How can the spirit exist where private own- 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 109 

ership of public property prevails and unjust private taxa- 
tion is permitted? 

Mary. We do not permit that; we fight against it. 

Gulp. You are fighting in the wrong country. The 
dynasts have you now. Only real democracy can resist 
foreign invasion. Your democracy is a hollow imitation. 

Mary. [Going toward Cvlf.] We could beat the world. 

Gulp. I've heard of the little American navy under 
Decatur wiping out, for the first time and for the rest of 
the world, the Barbary pirates. I've heard the phrase of 
Minister Pinckney to the French Republic, "Millions for 
defense, but not one cent for tribute", a moral sentiment 
then first uttered by a nation; and I've heard of the war 
of the little American Republic against great England, 
wielding Neptune's trident as the sceptre of the world, 
to stop her from impressing American sailors. And the 
United States Supreme Gourt set aside the grant by the 
State of New York even to such benefactors of humanity 
as Livingston and Fulton of the exclusive right of steam 
navigation on the Hudson River. Not sixty years ago 
the United States led the world in the abolition of the 
sound dues charged by Denmark. In 1879, the Secretary 
of State dared any nation to assert exclusive claims to the 
Strait of Magellan; in 1892, you held Canada up to the 
open-waterway rule for the Welland Canal; and in 1899, 
you kept an open door in China — a matter of equal privi- 
leges in trade. 

Mary. Splendid ! 

Gulp. Yes ! These things make a glorious past. That's 
where the American people live. But real democracy can 
never go backward or give up progi'ess once achieved. 
These ideas as a mirage lead to destruction. In holding 
them absolutely, at all times, the only safety lies. Only 
shallow people live in the past; the wise live in the present 
and the future. 

Mary. America is Europe's only future. 



110 TEE WASTREL HOARD. 

Gulp. For a century America has been the graveyard 
of European errors. Immigrants from lands where belief 
in the ultimate excellence of human nature has flagged, 
have had their ancestral characteristics swiftly absorbed in 
their environment. 

Mary. Exactly! The soul of the universe epok© 
through our life. 

Gulp. While you were true to yourselves, you couldn't 
be false to others. But the all-conquering American mind, 
formed through three of the most wonderful centuries in 
social progress, has lost control of itself, submits to the 
control of the ancestral ideas, and to a system of political 
penetration for the benefit of those who profit by them, 
until the highest social consciousness can only observe the 
dissipation of the millennium almost within grasp. All 
races are striving toward emancipation from the circum- 
stances that enslave them and America was the great hope. 
To its alien millions, against their masters by divine right, 
America no longer has an honest principle to offer. In 
America, now, they change their sky but not their mind. 
You drive them back to what they came to avoid, and allow 
them to destroy for you what they came there to get for 
themselves. In your boasted melting-pot, the active agents 
boil in terms of dynastic intrigue; the native stock sim- 
mers under the milk-white flag. Even here I sense the 
indignation of the great spirit of America that seems to 
come from all those great and small, living and dead, who 
by their struggles and yearnings have made it. 

Mary. Mr. Gulp, why are you working here as a tele- 
graph operator? 

Gulp. [Half fencing, half serious.] Say, Miss, one of 
the most learned men I know is a New York barber. He 
works at the trade just for the opportunity to talk to his 
patrons. 

Mary. That's remarkable ! 

Gulp. No; in a free country a high average of culture 
and mental force should be the common inheritance — of 



THE WASTREL HOARD. Ill 

workers as well as dilettanti. Those who think the lowliest 
father of a family hasn't the highest political philosophy 
and a social point of view haven't the right to think them- 
selves. Where else can national aspirations be fostered 
but in the toiling masses? Every mother's son of them as- 
sumes now to impose his own code upon the world and to 
tiit in judgment on the universe. And, with, justice! 

Mary. I have never heard it put that way before. 

Gulp. [Smilhig.] The best culture is that of the man- 
ly and courteous instincts, and loving perceptions. It is 
not limited to parlors and lecture rooms, but applies to the 
conduct of the daily round of duties and affairs. To this 
culture any man is eligible. 

Mary. That is Walt Whitman ! 

Gulp. It wasn't for nothing Whitman was of mixed 
Dutch and English blood. He wrote the American 
Bible 

Mary. For Lincoln's plain people. "My Gaptain !" 

Gulp. Who no longer exist. 

Mary. [By way of compromise.] They are all com* 
mon now. 

Gulp. Gommon or preferred. They have lost the happy 
medium of the average man — work. Our clearest ideas 
come to us when our hands are busy. Fairy thoughts are 
woven by fairy fingers. This America Figaro is really 
learned. A wrinkled brow, however fortified, never pro- 
duced a work of art. All honest work is equal and deserves 
a normal and substantially equal reward I 

Mary. I didn't mean any disrespect. 

Gulp. There couldn't be any. A good telegraph op* 
erator is better than a bad lawyer. The "Sons of Rest," 
too, come from both extremes. America, the land of oppor- 
tunity, has surrendered to success and has no place for 
honest failures, however valuable their effort. It respects 
particularly the successful rascal — however destructive his 
effort to the community. It only takes a few intellectual 
perverts, well placed, to turn the world upside down. If 



112 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

you only knew with how little wisdom the world is gov- 
erned ! 

Mary. That is true. For whom are you ? 

Gulp. The Carnegie Foundation charged the Nether- 
lands government with the direction of this court. I am 
here with express orders to see that no folly is attempted 
and that everybody gets a square deal. 

Mary. I came early to get you to help me. 
Gulp. If it was only coming early that was necessary, 
you didn't come early enough. 
Mary. What do you mean? 
Gulp. Do you know this man? 

[Handing Mary a card.] 

Mary. Has he been here? 

Gulp. You almost met him as you came in. 

Mary. What did he wish? 

Gulp. The same as you. 

Mary. You must be mistaken. That man is the head 
lobbyist for monopoly in the United States, the chief in- 
flater for the "Air Trust," the brains of the public enemy, 
the master of the invisible government. He's — he's — un- 
derstudy — to the devil himself. 

Gulp. I said he wished me to help him. Don't you wish 
me to help you? 

Mary. Of course 

Gulp. I'll do anything — proper — you wish. 

Mary. But Bullard persuaded you? 

Gulp. I formed a first impression — a general impreg- 
fiion — and against impressions persuasion is useless. 

Mary. And you naturally distrust me — [Descending in 
anxiety to plaintiveness amounting almost to a whine] — 
because I am a stranger. 

Gulp. My first impression of you was — in Berlin. I 
know your notes are good. 

Mary. Thank you. 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 



113 



Gulp. I're done secret service work throughout Eu- 
rope. I heard you every time I could. 

Mary. [With reviving assurance.] I'm so glad! 
You're just the man I need for a friend. 

Gulp. If you plan to help the royal lackeys you've been 
Bmiling on throughout Europe, you may count me againgt 
yon. 

[A fourth hoy comes out of the telegraph office whis- 
tling "De Nederlandsche Vlag."] 



Stu.-rj'V 




\ J.AIi 


r r 


t4 






r M 1 


^ 


N''^ r^prr 


^H=H 


u.u=^ 


E--C 


m^0^ 




L_J ■ 



[Gulp turns quickly and says to him in Dutch, 
"Genoeg! Kom allemaal der uit en hen gereed!" 
The hoy stops whistling, bursts out laughing, and 
says, '"Ja, Mcncer,'- and hows low, turns, and 
goes into the telegraph office.] 

Mary. See here, Mr. Dutchman. [Mary puckers up her 
lips and whistles a few bars of ^'Yankee Doodle.^'] We 
have American tunes to whistle ! 

Gulp. Why not stick to them ! That's better than your 
plan to give the measure for nobles to dance by. 

Mary. I have no such plan. The sentiments you have 
expressed are mine. See, I trust you. The best friend I 
have in the world is in the State Department at Washing- 
ton — Russell Turner— he's Gounselor 



114 



TEE WASTREL HOARD. 



[Gulp utters an exclamation 
checks Mary^s speech.^ 



of surprise which 



Gulp. Russell Turaer! How is that! Bullard tried to 
use Russell Turner's name with me. 

Mary. Yes. Do you know him? 

Gulp. Not so well by that name. 

Mary. That's his name, isn't it? 

Gulp. I called him William the Silent. [Gulp points 
to the portrait of William the Silent.'] He called me Hugo 
the Great — De Groot, you know 

Mary. How did you know himf 

Gulp. For three years I — saio America — with a tippling 
waster who had for four years been levying blackmail 
upon Russell's wife. She told her husband only after the 
strain had broken her health. The noble European ! 

[Mary follows Gulp with tense interest which she 
attempts to conceal and with fear that he may 
not continue. The four hoys come out of the tele- 
graph office with cable blanks in their hands. 
They line up in front of Gulp, who turns to face 
them. They salute, whistling, "Al is ons Landje 
nog zoo klein."] 



Alk gi il ht 



WUip 


m 


pfft 


M 


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=i-Wl3= 


iiffi 


im 


iffl 






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fw 


^ii 


try 


'"9 4- 


WW 


Tl 


IKfrcJH 


m 


^:^5 


El 


BS 


M 


- p- 


- 


— 


rtfi- 


m 


W 




5 


— 


H^ 



¥ii0WHr]^ ^ 






I y 



[Their attempt to whistle gives way to their amuse- 
ment, they burst out laughing, break ranks, go 
into the Ante-Chamber and the Court Room, plac- 
ing blanks here and there. They attempt to under- 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 115 

stand the conversation in English, whispering eon- 
fidences and guesses to one another.] 

Maby. Yes 

Gulp. Russell kept the fellow's lips sealed — until alco- 
hol finally clapped its big silencer on — and he has taken 
care of the children since. It cost him all he could earn, 
but he made jiood. The dog- started to boast to me once 
about the children — only once, however, and not desiring 
Russell to kill him, I didn't take the trouble to communi- 
cate the hint. 

Mary. [Expectantly.] Yes — and 

Gulp. The story never came out, and 

Maey. Yes 

Gulp. And now it never will. To have done every- 
thing for children you did not — Well — Russell Turner's 
the biggest man I ever knew. 

Maey. Did Bullard know? 

Gulp. It was I who inquired of Bullard? HchadneVcr 
even seen me! Even now he thinks I understand no 
English or any other language he does. 

Maey. And what did he say? 

Gulp. Like you. "Russell Turner is nearer to me than 
anybody in the world." But I, it seems, am closer to Rue- 
sell than either of you. 

Maey. It isn't so! I mean — that Bullard — is Russell's 
worst enemy. Russell's Acting Secretary of State and Bul- 
lard is trying to use that with you. 

Gulp. How can I know? Bullard proved it by dia- 
grams. He thought I couldn't grasp his English! 

Maey. [As if fearful of going too far.] He is the man 
who taught me Whitman. The American agent will tell 
you. 

Gulp. You mean Senator Morse? 

Maey. Yes. He has been like a father to me — to oa 
both, in fact. I wish to help him, but I'm afraid I'll have 
to do it in my own way. Bullard tried to work on him 



116 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

through Russell, but I stopped that. Now he'll resort to 
his old game of threats — and that will include the judges. 
Bullard wishes to write their decree. 

Gulp. You don't say so ! What do you wish to do? 

Mary. To get private messages to Russell and to tell, 
him what to reply. 

Gulp. Would this be safe, this message business? — or 
right? 

Mary. Both. His spirit is so near to me, I sense his 
purpose. [Mary pauses as if receiving a spirit message.] 
He's thinking what we are, now. You'll get a message. I 
know these European rascals — I have reason to — and the 
Senator doesn't. Sometimes I'll ask you to hand me replies 
before they have been received. 

Gulp. [Quietly.] I've never heard of such a request. 
I'd not send a crooked message under royal command. I'd 
jump into the Vyver first. 

Mary. Look here, Mr. Gulp ! This very kind of mental 
telepathy rules the United States. We haven't, never had, 
and never can have any really adequate governmental ma- 
chinery to express so many wills. Yet — if what one hun- 
dred million people think were not, in obedience to their 
magnetic power, realized in government forthwith, there 
would be not freedom and acquiescence but the worst of 
tyranny, consciousness of oppression, and eternal civil war. 
History, as well as theory, shows that it is through their 
own thoughts, as well as by brute force, that men have 
always been governed. Every generous humane common 
impulse is telepathic and universal. And people the world 
over are getting closer every day. Unless they think moral- 
ly they cannot survive. And here, in this court, if its decrees 
are to stand, must be heard the voice of America, 
the voice of Europe, the voice of the world; here must 
be felt the pulsations and the waves of thought of all the 
lovers of humanity and justice in the whole civilized world. 
[Mary has drawn out from the sash of her gown the little 
American flag, used in the first act. Her question to Gulp 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 117 

is a challenge. As she delivers it, she rests her left hand, 
holding the flag, upon the counter, and gesticulates with 
the right hand.] AVill you do it? 

Gulp, I feel that way. If I can confirm this by inquiry. 
[Showing Mary the telegram of the Ambassador.] With- 
out knowing it, you have needed protection these past two 
years, and Uncle Sam has given it to you. 

Mary. I sincerely hope Uncle Sam is establishing a 
precedent. It is about time he protected his owti. But I 
very much suspect Uncle Sam is in this case just a par- 
ticular friend of mine — of ours, in fact. Will you help me? 

Gulp. Perhaps. Do you know how to use a cable 
code? 

Mary. Yes, but I'm terribly slow at it. Let's make the 
code up afterward. 

Gulp. But the receiver always wants the original ci- 
pher. 

Mary. Then I must get appointed Senator Morse's 
secretary. I'll go see him right off. 

Gulp. You may as well wait here for him. 

Mary. But he doesn't even kuow that I'm in Holland. 
I couldn't let him know that I've been here arranging with 
you to manage the Tribunal for him. I'll go find him at his 
hotel or, if he has left, follow him here. Don't mention me 
to anyone. 

Gulp. Gertainly not ; but here's some one now. 

Mary. I mustn't be seen — what shall I do? 

Gulp. Gome in here and go through that door. It leads 
through my office to the way out. Listen to see who it is. 
If it's the Senator, come back through the corridor 

Mary. All right, I'll listen. 

Gulp. And if it is not, you can go around into the Gon- 
ference Room. From the door facing this way, you can get 
a view of everything — here and in tlie Gourt Room. 

Mary. All right. It'll be all right. 

[Mary e.rits through telegraph office door. Two 
rending rlcrlyS and a stenographer enter together 



118 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

and go directly into the Court Room, nodding to 
Gulp and saying " Goedenmorgen,'' which saluta- 
tion Gulp returns. Enter Senator Morse. Looks 
around and approaches Gulp ; he fixes his lips so 
as to enunciate plainly.] 

Senator Morse. I desire to make arrangements for the 
transmission of messages to the United States. [Gulp as- 
sumes an air of amused innocence.] I am agent for the 
Pacific Ganal Gase of the United States of America, and I 
desire to arrange for the transmission of ofiflcial messages. 
[Gulp shrugs his shoulders.] I should think the manager 
of this Tribunal would have had sense enough to have a 
man in charge who could speak English. 

Gulp, Well, Senator; if Uncle Sam appointed trained 
diplomats instead of plutocrats and politicians, that 
wouldn't be necessary. That's a hot one, all right, but it 
was coming to you. Your diplomatists are statesmen in 
embryo, who first learn the rudiments in the highest and 
most responsible stations — millions of middle class people 
represented by chance holders of colossal fortunes which 
assure them of situations not merited, to say the least, by 
their careers. The one field of activity in which democracy 
does not demand experts is government itself. 

Senator Morse. [Sparring for time to regain his 
equilibrium.] Then you do understand English? 

Gulp, [Laughing.] Not as you pronounce it. Who 
the deuce could? I speak American. That's plainer. Eng- 
lish is a dialect. All others are dead languages. 

Senator Morse. But you're a Dutchman ! 

Gulp. Of American descent. By the Holland-America 
line. 

Senator Morse. How did you dare to joke with me? 

Gulp, Because I know you. And your speech was not, 
as you diplomats say, comminatory. I knew, besides, that, 
as a politician, you'd stand for it from me. I used to live 
in your district. 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 119 

Senator Morse. My Congress District? 
CuLP. I was an Election District Captain in the Dia- 
mond Backed District. 

Senator Morse. [With a hearty laugh.] Then you 
were a power in politics f 

Gulp. / was a mannikin with the other puppet politi- 
cians — until / sized them up. I found out the real rulers 
are your cosmopolitan financiers, the people with the ma- 
zuma, from below the "dead line" — New York's symbol of 
the understanding between the criminal and the rich. 

Senator Morse. Nonsense. There's no more bank- 
breaking now anywhere. 

CuLP. Overtly — it is unnecessary. It's done on paper 
now everywhere, and it is sanctioned by custom. The 
crooks on the inside and the crooks on the outside diwy. 
That is all stock and bonds and notes are made for. Rob- 
bing the creators of wealth under cover of our complex, in- 
direct financial system is a regular practice. It's the prop- 
er thing. The rich even pretend to represent the poor in 
public office. 

Bbnator Morse. Our rich man in politics prefers honor 
to his money. 

Gulp. I'll believe that when only one of them drops 
his money before going into the fray and stands upon his 
merits and upon his own feet. Nominal statesmen, how- 
ever reverberating, have no terrors for me. 

Senator Morse. Well, your managers agreed with me 
that your work required a linguist. 

Gulp. You're wrong in your facts. Europeans are good 
linguists. They have to be because Americans are not. 
Conversation is like a Dutch treat — each one has to put in 
something. European merchants have to speak English at 
home or go out of business. Americans, like the English, 
are belligerently unilingual ! 

Senator Morse. It's a good thing they are; it spreads 
national influence. 

Gulp. I know a better plan. 



120 THE WASTREL HOARD: 

Senator Morse. What is it? \ 

Gulp. Prohibit the publication of newspapers in for- 
eign languages in the United States and make European 
merchants speak English there. Why not create a little 
American influence in the United States? Apply the Mon- 
roe Doctrine for yourselves! 

Senator Morse. Would that be constitutional? 

Gulp. There's one thing makes me doubt. You see the 
English language is so simple that American laws might be 
written so simply that not only some judge, but even all the 
people, could understand them. That might, of course, be 
unconstitutional ! 

Senator Morse. The Constitution is written in simple 
language. 

Gulp. Who in the — United States — now could write 
such a document? What class would? Who really under- 
stands it? 

Senator Morse. Reading and writing are universal in 
the United States. Even Americans read newspapers in 
foreign languages. Everybody, you see, reads some news- 
paper. 

Gulp. There's more criminal libel committed in the 
United States than in the rest of the world, without the 
victims knowing it. It is no wonder you are not xenopho- 
bes. The foreigners do this unnoticed. Yes, and conspira- 
cy and sedition, violation of neutrality, and even treason. 
It is the custom in New York for the poodle-dogs of politics 
to address their constituents in Yiddish and other constitu- 
tional dialects. The great American vote is the only one 
nobody bids for ! At least two hierarchies demand the es- 
tablishment of their religion and the attempt is common 
to live under other governments than that ordained by 
the Gonstitution. Why can't you prevent that? 

Senator Morse. Good! The police power! You are 
talking to me like a Dutch uncle. 

Gulp. No, like an American boy ! {Draws a newspaper 
clipping from a notebook in his pocket.] Here's an account 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 121 

of a baseball game in Cnba, between the Giants and the Al- 
mendares. There are nine American words to one of Span- 
ish, and there's not an English word in it. The difference 
in language is what keeps people apart. People never w^ant 
to fight with those in whose language they couch their in- 
nermost thought. Why leave it to England to spread the 
great language of peace and commerce! You'd better 
abandon warship diplomacy and dollar diplomacy for 
baseball diplomacy. Talk about horse-racing — that's the 
sport of kings — or pony polo, that's the rich man's game — 
or golf, that's the old man's game — but baseball, that's 
the true sport of democracy, the game for everybody, old 
and young, rich and poor alike. Syndicate international 
baseball, spread the spirit of fair play, and save the world 
the cost of armament. Imagine trying to raise armies 
during a real World's Championship series. Why, I've 
Been batteries 1 

Senator Morse. You certainly speak English w^ell. 

Gulp. / had just the right training — shorthand, print- 
ing, journalism, telegraphy, and Dutch. I think in English. 
That is one of the things in life w^orth doing well. It is the 
one untranslatable language, and the only one in which a 
man can say just what he thinks. And I believe people who 
don't speak English well, don't think well. My native 
Dutch is the nearest of all the other dialects to English, 

Senator Morse. You are less provincial than most 
native Americans. 

Gulp. With Emerson, "I like to be beholden to the 
great metropolitan English speech, the sea which receives 
tributaries from every region under heaven." 

Senator Morse. And, I sometimes think, from Heaven 
itself. 

Gulp. There's a promise in it of eliminating the great- 
est waste in the world — the source of which was Babel. 
And if that promise is not kept, the masterful energy of 
the stock that speaks the language will be overcome by 
the greater energy of a stock bent upon suppressing it and 



122 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

supplanting the elastic speech that expands with the 
human intellect by another and inferior one. All ii,Teat 
struggles are wars for speech. 

Senator Morse. That's the boy. Continue working. 
[Gulp recognizes the well-known baseball coaching speech 
and laughs at the grotesque effort of translating it from 
the ^'language of the tribe" to the correct English of the 
Senator.] Come back to the United States with me and 
I'll get you a consular post; then you can try out your 
ideas. But how about my cables? 

Gulp. What code do you use? 

Senator Morse. I've got a new one here. I don't un- 
derstand it very well, and between you and me, I haven't 
much confidence in my assistants. Mr. Gulp, junket is our 
favorite American dish. They are off sight-seeing now — ► 
visiting "The House in the Woods," and inspecting the 
*^Hall of Knights" — working up the history of past peace 
conferences instead of attending to the business of this 
case — the usual training for visionless statesmen. When 
it comes to real work, they get school-bell fever. 

Gulp. [Looking about.'] They'd find the interior dec- 
orations here interesting. Each nation has contributed 
something. 

Senator Morse. They are specialists in interior deco- 
rations. They have the finest international collection in 
The Hague. They are carrying it with them. 

Gulp. [Laughing.] War decorations are excluded 
here. Why is it that in America every public mission is 
regarded as a junket and every public duty as a debauch? 
I am disappointed. We expected American spirit would 
temper the mortar for this new structure. Under the in^ 
fluence of the other spirits it hasn't set. 

Senator Morse. Just show me how America can help. 
I'm strange here. If this thing needs setting, I want to 
do my part. 

Gulp, Will you trust me? 

Senator Morse, I think I can. 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 123 

Gulp. Let me see your code. [Senator Morse hands 
Gulp a book.] I'll take your messages personally and turn 
them into cipher and I'll decode the ones I receive. [Look- 
ing at the code book.] It's the "Green" American — known 
in every court in Europe — as well as if you should adopt 
as secret the Morse code and call it your own. You'll need 
help. I'll help you. 

Senator Morse. I'll appreciate that. It will relieve 
my mind a whole lot. I don't mind confessing I felt sort of 
helpless, a sort of boss and oflQce boy combined, without 
capacity for the w' ork of either. 

Gulp. You'll get on all right. ^ 

[Enter Mary.] 

Senator Morse. Well, by Jove, Mary! [Gulp goes 
into office and receives. He assumes a groicing attitude 
of elation as the message comes out.] Where did you come 
from? 

Mart. From St. Petersburg. Do you suppose I'd let 
you remain alone in Europe? 

Senator Morse. How did you get aw^ay? 

Mary. I broke my contract with Wolf. The German 
beast ! He wanted to eat me ! 

Senator Morse. You shouldn't have done that. / can't 
blame him. You look good enough to eat. You must go 
back. 

Mary. Not I. Not until this Tribunal adjourns. I wish 
to be a diplomat — a sort of attachee. Gan you find a place 
for me? 

Senator Morse. What could a girl like you do? 

[Gulp comes out and hands Senator Morse a cable- 
gram.] 

Mary. Indeed! Well — [Looking at Gulp.] I could 
see that this foreigner gets your cables straight and I could 
keep my eyes and ears open. I'll tell you, make me your 
eecretary. 



124 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Senator Morse. You don't mean that? 

Mary. Of course I do. I — I — think and dream — in 
every important European language. You can't get a more 
capable employee. Am I engaged? 

Senator Morse. Yes — for the theatre tonight — there's 
a party. The play — [Senator Morse draws a card from 
Ms vest pocket.] "Op Hoop van Zegen." / speak no lan- 
guageHby my own I — Thank Heaven ! — But what does that 
mean? 

[Senator Morse hands the card to Mary.] 

Mary. H'm! The Royal Opera House! The play is 
fourteen years old. "The Good Hope," by Hermann Hei- 
jermans, the last of the "Naturalists." 

Senator Morse. In Dutch ! Tell me what it's about. 

Mary. It's the name of a ship. The capitalist ship- 
owners in a Dutch village send the jSshermen out in a leaky 
trawler. The ship is wrecked, all are lost, but the owners' 
insurance is saved. 

Senator Morse. A bitter plot ! 

Mary. Kind of symbolic of pur "Ship of State," isn't 
It? And their lovely Queen chose this play and is to be 
present with her King Consort! Our "dynasts" would 
keep it off their stage. It might put some soul into their 
cattle. 

Senator Morse. You little revolutionist ! 

Mary. Am I engaged? 

Senator Morse. You are. Report to me at the Oude 
Doelen for dinner — we'll have some Hutspot and Gouda 
Kaas. 

Mary. But I wish work. 

Senator Morse. Well, I'll turn you over to Gulp. Mr. 
Gulp, this is my secretary, Miss Flint. Just explain this 
cable business to her. 

[Gulp nods to Senator Morse. Mary turns to 
Gulp.] 



TEE WASTREL HOARD. 125 

Mary. Ja! Meneer! 

Senatoe Morse. Oh, Mr. Gulp speaks English. 

CuLP. Yes, sir. Glad to know you. 

Mary. The same to you, Mr. 

Gulp. Gulp — Hugo Gulp — Hugo De Groot Gulp. 
Mary. Glad to meet you, Mr. Gulp. 
Gulp. Will you step into my office? «/wj9^row.' Freule! 
Mary. Thank you. Meneer! Met plezier! 

[Mary and Gulp go out by door leading out of the 
telegraph office. Mary holds door ajar. The 
door opens up stage, so that the opening may he 
observed by the audience. At appropriate mo- 
ments Mary opens the door, shows herself to 
Senator Morse and gesticulates. At such mo- 
ments, the person talking with Senator Morse 
has his back turned to the door."] 

Senator Morse. {Reading the cablegram. He appears 
to have difficulty in deciphering the handwriting, and calls 
to Gulp, who comes out to listen to the cable as it is read.] 

"Washington, D. G., June 28, 1914. 
''Hon. John Morse, Palace of Peace, 

The Hague, Holland. 

"Opinion here sharply divided. Movement of 
disinterested citizens favoring withdrawal Amer- 
ican claim has grown tremendously. Interests are 
working to make Pacific preference appear patri- 
otic, but real goal is seizure of Mexico and Ganada 
and war with England. Make it plain to the 
world for your own sake and for the sake of Amer- 
ican honor and the real interests of our country, 
that you place your case upon the highest grounds 
of international justice and on those grounds 
alone — even if you lose. American commerce 
must serve peace and humanity. 

"Russell Turner.^' 



126 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

CuLP. That's an American note, isn't it? 
Sbnatoh Morse. As soon as Bullard sailed ! 

[Enter Bullard. Senator Morse thrusts the cable 
gram into his pocket and nods to Culp_, who goei 
into the telegraph office.] 

Senator Morse. Thank yon, Mr. Gulp. 

Bullard. How are you, Senator? I see we Ameri- 
cans are first on the scene as usual. 

Senator Morse. You're evidently determined not to 
miss anything. I'll bet you drank coffee and lay awake all 
night planning to run this Tribunal. 

Bullard. I knew a poet once who used to eat peanuts 
before he went to bed at night and, as a result, couldn't 
sleep. That's what made him a poet. 

Senator Morse. But you are not a peanut politician. 

Bullard. No. But this case is a hard one to digest. 
I wet it down with Schiedam Schnaaps, with three mem- 
bers, in repeated succession, flitting, like a busy flirt, to 
keep each young man unconscious of the others. 

Senator Morse. How do you get on talking with these 
foreigners? 

Bullard. There's a universal language. 

Senator Morse. Money? 

Bullard. Well, drink loosens the tongue. At first 
the conversation was rather formal. My guests were re- 
specting themselves. Little by little — under the influence 
of the respective patriotic libations — of the exalting 
absinthe, the duller beer, and — not vodka but champagne 
— the speech loosened; it lost exactitude. Words were 
made to do double duty. Then pronunciation stumbled 
and fell apart. The spoken words were deformed, slurred 
over, maltreated. The next loss was in intonation — as 
though the speaking voice were getting out of control. 
And, at last, the conversation became purely automatic — 
a sort of emotional repetition of stock phrases and slang 
locutions, the mere parrot utterance of ready-made word- 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 127 

combinations lliat required little more than muscular effort 
— and of tliese suck an increasing proportion was in tiie 
native tongue of each that I finally had to give them up 
and put them to bed. [Derisively.] And they are all 
Bismarck's "two bottle" men ! 

Senator Morse. You seem perfectly sober. 

BuLLARD. I was bar-tender. He drinks seldom. He has 
to stand on his feet ! Each of my victims, as I received his 
bedside assurances, called me to witness that no siren song 
could overcome his judicial impartiality. It was very 
ludicrous — the more so because no one else saw the joke — 
[Mary bites her lip] — but me. A siren song! There was 
none but mine! 

Senator Morse. And money — you'd surely try that. 

BuLLARD. Well, money talks — and plainly — while you 
diplomats consider speech was given to man to conceal his 
thoughts ! 

Senator Morse. What was your need of haste? We 
merely organize today and adjourn until day after tomor- 
row. Tomorrow another set of judges organizes for the 
American-Japanese immigration controversy. 

Bullard. That's it. I wish they had held that off. It 
complicates things. 

Senator Morse. The Yellow Peril! So that's your 
hurry! That warning serves as many purposes as Scrip- 
ture ! 

Bullard. Don't be unkind, Senator. I had to get my 
bearings. As a diplomat I had to have private conversa- 
tions and preliminary pourparlers. I wasn't at Algeciraa 
for nothing. I'm here to protect the interests I represent. 
You are here to advance the cause you represent. Where's 
the difference? A lawyer is a purchasable commodity, too. 
Whoever loses, the lawyers must get theirs. The law's 
standing offer of protection is the spider's lure to the un- 
wary victim. 

Senator Morse. But I represent the American people. 

Bullard. You represent a certain construction of the 



128 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Hay-Pauncefote Treaty and the American people don't be- 
lieve in that construction. You don't yourself. 

Senator Morse. That Act was passed by the American 
Congress and signed by the President. That's enough for 
me. 

BuLLARD. That Act was passed by my Senators and 
Representatives ! 

Senator Morse. But was signed by a patriotic Presi- 
dent 

Bullard. Against his best judgment, just because he 
couldn't furnish a declaration against his country. Come, 
Senator, let's work together. [Sitting down.] Let's sit 
down. Senator. We're working for the same cause. 

Senator Morse. You mean that I'm working for the 
Trusts. If I admitted that I'd be driven from public life. 

Bullard. You're working for victory before the Tri- 
bunal. If you don't get it, you'll be driven from public 
life and your friends in the State Department will go with 
you! 

Senator Morse. Now, Bullard, I am going to say some- 
thing to you I have refrained from saying during my forty 
years of public life. You know all the men who have made 
money directly or indirectly out of holding office during 
that time, and those who bought their places, in fact, all 
those who hold honor in political life by compromising it, 
who, instead of showing courage and losing, have tried to 
succeed by the easiest way 

Bullard. Don't beat about the bush. Senator. Call 
them political prostitutes! That is plain and I'll under- 
Btand it. 

Senator Morse. Well, you know that I am not one of 
them. And you know I have never acted as a lawyer in any 
matter in which the public interests were involved, or by 
which my public action might be influenced. 

Bullard. You've deserved your good name. I know 
those who bought their places and those who sold their 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 129 

power. There are all grades of sell-out men. You have a 
right to despise them all. 

Senator Morse. All I lay claim to is horse sense. I 
never desired to be very rich, or very powerful, and I don't 
now. I have seen what it costs. 

BuLLARD. Some of them have paid dear for it. 

Senator Morse. Now, I'll tell you of the resolve I made 
the night of my first election. I promised myself that if I 
ever felt the desire to stay in office for my own benefit or 
comfort, I should summon all my resolution and get out. 
I never felt that desire 

Bullard. Until 

Senator Morse. Of course, I admit that, now, being 
an old man, [Sitting doivn] I'd like to die in the harness. 

Bullard. I needn't tell you, Senator, how short a time 
it takes to complete a man's ruin. 

Senator Morse. When you interrupted me, I was 
about to say that the only thing on earth of which I can't 
be deprived is my sense of duty. 

Bullard. I know you are a little different, Senator, 
but you like to be on top as well as anybody. 

Senator Morse. Now, see here, Bullard, I'm here to 
win for the United States, but I propose to do it before the 
Tribunal, before the judges — and I hope we shall not win 
unless we deserve to win. 

Bullard. You will win all right. I've seen to that. 

Senator Morse. What ! 

Bullard. I've won before the Tribunal already — be- 
fore it has met. But the form of the decree — that's impor- 
tant. I'd like to suggest 

Senator Morse. You're joking. 

Bullard. No. The real trial of but few lawsuits takci 
place in open court — or real battles at the seat of war. 

Senator Morse. This case will be tried upon the evi- 
dence and the principles of the international law. 

Bullard. Made to suit. 



130 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Senator Morse. This court is to be the expounder of 
world law, to express the international mind. 

BuLLARD. Formed by the same influences which now 
make up the different national minds. But they are not 
legal principles — there are none that are international — 
there's only natural justice, but that is never applied. 

Senator Morse. But diplomacy ! 

BuLLARD. Is never so much in evidence as when it gives 
everybody in the world just what nobody wants. 

Senator Morse. But, for inland waters, national con- 
trol is an established principle. 

BuLLARD. If you appeal to that, you're licked. A girdle 
about the earth by water wasn't considered when that prin- 
ciple was adopted. The judicial eye drags, has visual per- 
sistence, like a movie audience. Official justice is like a 
gun — silenced and disappearing — fired from cover ; the vic- 
tim is dead before the shot is seen or heard. Take advan- 
tage of that. Leave nature out. This Court's fixed for us 
right now, but if you bring out your so-called natural prin- 
ciples, the judges may not have the nerve to decide with 
you. That's just what I want to see you about. Don't be 
original. It doesn't pay. 

Senator Morse. Well, that line of argument won't 
get you anything. There are some rules too clear for con- 
struction. I hope I will never see the day my country's 
interest is placed above its honor. 

BuLLARD. But you are your country's lawyer, and this 
Court, if it is a Court of Etiquette, is not a Court of Honor. 

Senator Morse. I wish you would spare me from any 
more of this talk. These judges are the most distinguished 
men in Europe. They're incapable of anything but the 
strictest adherence to their oaths of office. 

BuLLARD. Name them over. I'll tell you who these 
judicial demigods are. 

Senator Morse. Sir Richard Dexter. 

BuLLARD. [As if stumped.] H'm ! 

Senator Morse. [Confidenthj.] A rare old Tory, I 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 131 

suppose I He's here to fight, under cover, as is customary, 
for the entrenched riches of his class? 

BuLLARD. Sh ! Liberal England is very sensitive about 
its international honor — or, at least, its reputation. 

■ Senator Morse. [Resting the point.] And Sir Rich- 
ard? 

BuLLARD. Oh, I admit it. He's a statesman of letters, 
but a mere thinking machine. The others sent an agent. 
England sends a judge. He's so just he leans over back- 
ward. He would decide against his own country. 

Senator Morse. He's a prophet of the common law, 
and he thinks it the hearthstone of every British home — 
and the basis of the rule of law for the federated free and 
independent peoples of the world. 

BuLLARD. The old gentleman actually worships the 
fetich called justice I He doesn't know that right now the 
shipping interests of Great Britain are facing a conflict 
with the rest of the world, and that what his country needs 
is not judges but friends. 

Senator Morse. Then she deserves friends. 

BuLLARD. He'll be against us, on the merits, and he'll 
take our own man. Wells, with him I 

Senator Morse. Then Sir Richard gets friends. 

BuLLARD. Well, he's a queer sort to send after them. 
He falls short, — like you. He needs three and gets two! 
He is not a diplomat. He has nothing to do with Downing 
Street, and, I believe, scarcely knows where it is. 

Senator Morse. That's good. The separation of pow- 
ers; you see that's Anglo-Saxon ! How about the Russian? 

BuLLARD. Americans in the fur trust and the Alaska 
■eal-fisheries combine are agents of the Russians. They 
are a trustful race. 

Senator Morse. Until you scratch them. 

BuLLARD. Their policies, even in matters of vital in- 
ternational concern, are directed from a certain embassy 
in Sergievskaia Street. They even employ generals with 
German names. The Czar's a soft proposition. His lat« 



132 TEE WASTREL HO A RD. 

tmcle, Edward the Seventh, could have told him that once 
a German, always a spy. 

Senator Morse. Of course. The White House always 
calls up the imperious politician on Massachusetts Avenue 
near Fourteenth Street. 

BuLLARD. Wait and see. It's nothing more nor less 
than interlocking directorates, is it? 

Senator Morse. If that works, why not community of 
interests among the peoples? 

BuLLARD. Yes! Why noil Next! 

Senator Morse. Baron Liebig von Speidel, I have 
known personally. 

Bullard. Me, too. He represented Germany at Wash- 
ington. 

Senator Morse. A charming man. He married an 
American wife. He was persona grat — issima! -t 

Bullard. He married American dollars. That's the 
German system of conquest and annexation. 

Senator Morse. He is beyond reproach. 

Bullard. An international statesman's most pressing 
need is often for expenses he doesn't \\ish to report at home. 

Senator Morse. Often. But she is in everything with 
him. She follows his flag. 

Bullard. And the whole connection with her. That's 
the German system ! Even the brightest are its dupes ! 
They know the dollar has no flag ; it tries to side not with 
right but with strength. It is like the fat military con- 
tractor. It makes war or peace for profit anywhere on 
earth and has made righteous war impossible. The Kaiser 
appoints him a member of this Court as agent for the for- 
eign bankers for railroads and brewers who would control 
American shipping, and then the commerce and industry 
of the world. Ninety per cent, of the American coastwise 
ships that can make profitable use of the Canal are owned 
by a railroad or a trust. They have as much use for this 
Canal as for the canals on Mars ! 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 133 

"The strongest castle, tower, and town, 
"The golden bullet beats it down." 

Senator Morse. Then it's free British shipping against 
dynastic American railroads. 

BuLLARD. That's it. The reason the United States is 
asserting a right to limit the use of the Canal is not be- 
cause our ship owners desire it as such, but because the for- 
eign owners of our railroads desire it. If they had their 
way, the Canal would be blown up or filled up. So you see 
my method is comparatively harmless. 

Senator Morse. If you succeed, the alimentary canal 
might as well close up, too. 

BuLLARD. They have too much interest in passing the 
schooner through — for irrigation! 

Senator Morse. Yes, too much. You have made that 
a political emblem and partisans pothouse politicians, 
haven't you? Well, thank Heaven, your methods are not 
my methods. 

Bullard. You needn't be so grateful. You arrive at 
the same end — blindly. 

Senator Morse. But with a clear conscience. 

Bullard. Lay not that flattering unction to your soul. 

Senator Morse. You think an act is all right if it's 
non-felonious. 

Bullard. Men of your sort make a great virtue of what 
is merely mental inertia. Even when conscious of what 
you will, you will the end without willing the means. As a 
matter of fact, you often do great harm. 

Senator Morse. Give me an instance. 

Bullard. Well, you're fond of Russell Turner, aren't 
you? 

[At the sound of Russell Turner^s name, Mary 
opens the door wider.] 

Senator Morse. Very. 

Bullard. As fond as I am ? 

Senator Morse. That is putting it mildly. 



134 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

BuLLARD. Indeed ! 

Senator Morse. He is like a son to me. 

BuLLARD. You knew his mother, perhaps? 

Senator Morse. I knew of both his parents. The 
mother was an admirable woman. 

BuLLARD. [Quickly.] That's right! [Quiz:;ically.] 
The father didn't amount to much? 

Senator Morse. I have always admired Russell for 
being what he is with such a man for a father, 

BuLLARD. [Dubiously.] That gives all credit to the 
boy? A fine stone in a mean setting! Eh! 

Senator Morse. [Rises; sees Mary.] Yes, decidedly. 

BuLLARD. And you wouldn't do him an injury? 

Senator Morse. Not for the world. 

BuLLARD, [Earnestly ; rising.] Well, you 7mv(?. 

Senator Morse. In what way? 

BuLLARD. [Almost disclosing resentment.] I was by 
T/ay of making him rich. He could have risen to any 
height, even to the greatest office on earth — the Presidency. 
[At a sign of caution, Mary disappears.] The girls 

Senator Morse. Your kind will never make any more 
T^residents. Persons must cease to sidetrack issues. 

BuLLARD. Not openly, but when you hear a man howl 
like a Progressive, look out for him. He'll be ours. And 
we'll be paying him to howl ! We never really lose. Oar 
people never rise above a moving picture intellect. All 
they ask is that the reel keep going and that they be al- 
lowed to sit open-mouthed, looking at the crass banalities 
on the canvas. They think they elect Presidents. Well, 
Presidents don't count for much. They are merely pictures 
in the passing show. They fade in, go through motions, and 
fade out. Audible! Public men are like pebbles thrown 
in the water; they plunk, make ripples, and go down for- 
ever ; their very lightness it is that keeps them momentarily 
on the surface. From Presidents to politicians, the more 
they change the more they are seen to be the same thing. 

Senator Morse. And the machine goes on forever. 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 135 

BuLLARD. Precisely. We are the water. [StUmgr do ion.] 
We turn the wheels, float the ships, and 

Senator Morse. [Sitting down.] And fill up canals. 

BuLLARD. [Laughing.] And capitalization. It's a 
game, Senator. It's an old game, Senator. But, it's a great 
game. Every consciously respectable member of the United 
States Senate is engaged in a gigantic conspiracy, under 
the polite name of "Senatorial courtesy,'' to barter away 
the welfare of the American people to private interests in 
return for political support. No man in public office owes 
any duty to the public. He's groomed by special interests 
for the race. They dope him like an ambitious trainer, and 
when they are through with him, or he ceases to be sub- 
missive, turn him out to grass. They nurse him just like 
Lascort does a star. Now, what have you actually done 
for Russell? 

Senator Morse. He's Counselor for the Department 
of State. / got that for him. 

BuLLARD. Assume that you did — and that it was you 
who convinced those Senators to withdraw their opposi- 
tion — and that it was you who induced Merwin to let him 
live — what kind of a living is it, at best? 

Senator Morse. It's pretty good for a man of his age. 
He's Acting Secretary of State in the absence of the Secre- 
tary. He's at least doing honest work. 

BuLLARD. Why, he's doing my work, "Dollar Diplo- 
macy," and he's starving on the job. The worst pangs are 
those of poverty, and the boy is feeling them. 

Senator Morse. It's a stepping-stone. 

BuLLARD. It's the skids. A gentleman who goes about 
with the top button of his waistcoat missing might as well 
cut his throat. No young man can get up except as a part 
of the system. That's why I went into it myself. To at- 
tempt to rise without money is like trying to lift yourself 
by your own bootstraps. The only stepping-stones are the 
shoulders of the rich. Honesty is praised but starves. 

Senator Morse. Perhaps, some day, even you will see 



136 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

they are slimy. Russell is doing his simple duty. That 
raises any man higher than President or King. 

BuLLARD. He's violating the most sacred duty. A 
man of his powers owes it to himself and those dependent 
upon him to keep free from want. 

Senator Morse. His wants are simple. 

BuLLARD. People who are literary and musical and 
artistic are unreliable. It's inborn, I suppose, in boys who 
take after their mothers. 

Senator Morse. A reversal for Judge Shakespeare! 
How do you prove it by Russell ? 

[BuLLARD looks at Senator Morse as if to discern 
how much he means by the question. He hazards 
an answer only when satisfied that the question is 
innocent. Mary appears in the doorway.] 

BuLLARD. Well — he should have mortgaged his eternal 
life to sweeten the last days of the mother of those girls. 

Senator Morse. Money wouldn't do that. The boy 
made tremendous sacrifices for years to spare her sorrow. 

BULLARD. [Shrugging his shoulders.] He's weak. He 
won't stand up. Senator Morse. 

Senator Morse. Let me tell you something, Bullard. 
When Russell had been married four years, the whole thing 
went wrong. The girl's health was gone, she found out 
there was no love between them, and, to top it all, she con- 
fessed the reason — that a former secret marriage, contract- 
ed while she was supposed to be studying at a fashionable 
school, which she had concealed from him, believing it to 
have been a joke, had been discovered to be valid. As usual, 
the first, foolish love survived, and a worthless waster 
haunted her like a ghost. That's one of the many cases there 
is no law to cover. Such cases call for manhood, and when 
it responds, they eat it right up without stint or pity. 
The man pays! Now, what would you do in such a 
dilemma? 

Bullabd. Good God! [Bullard pauses, surprised 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 137 

into thought, then finds a ivay to continue the conversa- 
tion.] Don't / know I But why should the hoy have to 
pay? [Mauy shows tense emotion.] He was innocent. 
' Senator Morse. Well, he not only kept her secret, and 
took the consequences upon himself, but he made her be- 
lieve that the escapade had not bound her after all. And 
he made her happy ; from wishing to die, he made her wish 
to live. And when she did die, it was in the belief, without 
the thought that he was hers, that no better man had ever 
lived. Poor girl ! A whole people has been ruined by a 
glittering personality ! Some men make vice a poem ! 

BuLLARD. I knew there was something. But Russell 
has been inscrutable — an enigma. How long does such 
retribution continue? Can't a father's reform save a child? 

Senator Morse. He is keeping up his attitude out of 
respect No attainder should strike a child — ever! 

BuLLARD. [Gloomily.] Some men inherit incapacity 
to master the woman question. No man ever made a suc- 
cess of life who lost the right girl. "And the gold years of 
a man's life will be brass in his mouth" — thanks to that. 
Nor any woman who lost the right man. 

Senator Morse. [Encouragingly.] No man ever made 
a success of his life who either married the wrong woman 
or who was the wrong man — nor any woman who was the 
wrong woman or married the wrong man. 

BuLLARD. But Russell wasn't really married. 

Senator Morse. It is not Russell who has failed. 

BuLLARD. My parents didn't exactly hitch. 

Senator Morse. Unrequited love is sometimes refined 
and made the pure gold of a greater love in a "man of sor- 
rows" — like Lincoln ! Russell may yet go far I 

BuLLARD. And Russell might have made a good match 
in Washington these two years. [Senator Morse pauses, 
squares ojf, looks Bullard through and through, and de- 
cides to let the suggestion pass. Bullard takes note and 
continues.] He may yet. You have a daughter, Senator. 

Senator Morse. The onlv woman has avoided him. 



138 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

BuLLARD. That's a good thing. She's a singer. His 
girls should have a mother's care. 

Senator Morse. [As a taunt.] Haven't you expected 
that Chance would sweep this singer off her feet. He has 
more money than his father iiad. He is the son of the 

typhoon. And he has pursued 

[BuLLARD betrays by his attitude his enjoyment of 
the fact that the Senator understands figurative- 
ly ivhat he asserts as a literal truth.] 

BuLLARD. I have observed the pursuit, but there is no 
Chance. Victor is not a son of the wind. Russell is safe 
from competition from that source. 

[Senator Morse continues in evident innocence of 
Bullard's meaning.] 

Senator Morse. I don't understand why he hasn't 
married. He seems content just to hope and wait. He's 
the quietest and the most useful man in Washington. 

BuLLARD. Well, if the world's balance could be struck, 
I'd bet silence has done more good than speech. When a 
thing's said, the bolt is shot. It's the fear it will be that 
hurts. We fear everything that's before us; actualities, 
we sense dully while anticipating something else; what is 
past we impatiently remember. [Rambling.] That is the 
real harm of the possibility of war. It is, in the long run, 
as harmful to hear "war" from the mouths of men as from 
the mouths of cannon. 

Senator Morse. At times, his silence is almost su- 
perhuman. He's solving a big problem, I'll warrant. 

BuLLARD. Not for himself, I'll bet. He lacks the in- 
stinct. A great idea that profits nothing while incubating ! 

Senator Morse. Acclaimed mediocrity is never sweeter 
than obscure greatness to those who have the choice. 

BuLLARD. Let's work together, Senator. [Mary reels 
back.] I am not a bad sort, even if I do use practical 
means. It'll be all right. 

[Senator Morse appears not to have heard; rises.] 

Senator Morse. If I believed what you say about this 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 139 

Tribunal, I'd forget the consequences to myself — and my 
friends. I'd call the whole thing off, if I could, and go 
home. 

BuLLAED. What would they think of us at home! 

Senator Morse. The ones I have to face at home are 
Mrs. Morse and our daughter. They are the only people in 
this world whose condemnation I fear. And, I guess, time 
would justify me with the others. There is no crime 
against our country so wicked as the crime of conducting 
our international relations with a view to party popularity. 
He who has charge of our foreign affairs must deal with 
them regardless of the effect upon his political future or 
his party's advantage, or he cannot deal with them as 
national independence and public safety demand. The 
man who is considering his political future and his party's 
advantage should keep out of foreign relations. These two 
cannot co-exist. But we are talking nonsense. Why, 
there's Ledoux, he's the finest gentleman I ever met. 

BuLLAED. If he were, only a war could keep him in 
French politics. That has been demonstrated. 

Senator Moese. Why don't I see these things? 

BuLLARD. You study the law. I study the judge. I have 
figured on Sir Richard and our own Mr. Wells — two out 
or five — being against us. 

Senator Morse. I've never had the slightest evidence. 

BuLLARD. You discourage it. A man shows a differ- 
ent character to every man he meets. The Roman grafters 
never gave their confidence to Cato. Sit down. Senator. 

Senator Morse. {Sees Mary open door; sits down.] 
Dishonest minds can never share in patriotic impulses. 

BuLLARD. They can pretend to, and do. I must re- 
mind you that the language and attitude of diplomatists 
and politicians are regulated by circumstances. Lead these 
men on. I've told them you are with us. A man always 
gives his confidence to somebody so as to shift the burden 
from his own conscience. Later they'll dsk you to help 



140 . THE WASTREL HOARD. 

them witli their decwe. Bnt please don't argue with them 
now. Just talk to them about themselves ; that gets people 
quickest. I've taken each separately and no one of them 
knows about the other — nor the whole truth about himself, 
for that matter. They are sort of in the honeymoon period 
of their acquaintance and haven't yet asked serious ques- 
tions. Like most of our best citizens, they are crooked and 
don't know it. 

Senator Morse. What do you mean? 

BuLLARD. Well, to be candid, Senator, I've done what 
is always done by those who get advance knowledge of im- 
portant decisions. I've put up every cent I have for a ten 
point margin to carry American railroad stocks. After 
this week I'll work no more. These fellows will have to 
find another "Man Friday," and if we get that decree in 
proper form, I'll have enough to stand up as a money power 
myself. I've handed out as servant hard knocks to the men 
of independence. But I'm going to be a real master now. 
Do you suppose I have gone against my true character, my 
traditions, training, and bringing up all these years, for 
any other reason than vengeance or for any other purpose 
than to realize them in a bigger way through victory over 
the power that turned me aside. You know my story. 
Senator, — at least as much as anybody knows. Chance 
did for me before I had begun to live. I took 
a vow — well — I did as much to Mm as I could before 
fate — or his character — the wastrel ! — took him off. And 
now I've made my people option all that boy's railroad 
holdings on a tip to him that the finding here would be 
adverse and send them down and that the moment would be 
opportune to put everything into real estate at the prevail- 
ing low prices. That argument got him — you'd think some 
people hadn't enough realty already — they want to own the 
earth. And, besides that, he has sold enough short to 
break him if there's a big jump upward. If I succeed, the 
real estate he has now will just about meet the deficiency 
to the brokers and the hoard that did for me will exist no 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 141 

longer but will be so distribnted that it will do no more 
harm. I'll have some of it, [grimli/] and I'll have my 
revenge. And, by God, I'm going to do some good, too. 
I'll put Russell up where he belongs ! And the girls, too. 
Money, first ; then honors will come easily. 

Senator Morse. What has that to do with these 
judges? 

BuLLARD. Oh ! Three of them have some of the stock — 
carried for them — they don't see the connection — but they 
expect a fifty point profit — and they take that as a measure 
of their service to commercial prosperity. Why not! We 
sold Europe the stocks and bonds of our railroads and 
Europe owns them. Merwin represents them and Ameri- 
can railroads belong to his clients. 

Senator Morse. That is financial feudalism. 

BuLLARD. That, my dear Senator, is the true meaning 
of the financial oligarchy in the United States. 

Senator Morse. It's political oligarchy I Foreign, 
too! Taxation without representation! 

BuLLARD. Sure ! When money talks, there are always 
fascinated listeners! 

Senator Morse. Good Heavens! Only government 
ownership left ! "Blocks of Five," over and over again ! 

Bullard. Why, our financial leaders are loaded to the 
gunwales for this stroke ! That's why they're compelled to 
safeguard the decree. If the water stays in that Canal, 
every drop of water in railroad securities evaporates. 

[Bullard sees Sir Richard; Mary disappears; 
Gulp comes out of the office and stands at one of 
the telegraph instruments; the Page Boys, in 
different parts of the stage, look toward Gulp.] 

Senator Morse. [Rising.] Then they'll go to smash I 

Bullard. [With sly confidence, which Mary appears 

just in time to observe.] Your old friend — Flint — is in 

deep, too. You would hardly desire to break him — and 

destroy his daughter's inheritance! 



142 TEE WASTREL HOARD. 

Senator Morse. [With the utmost dignity.] Justice 
leaves unavoidable damage where it falls. [Mary nods 
approval to Senator Morse and disappears. Sir Richard 
enters.] Good morning, Sir Richard! 

Sir Richard. [In a dialect understandable without 
great di^culty and very closely resemhling hut yet clearly 
distinguishable, by its tang, from the American language.] 
Good morning Senator. How is the American case this 
morning? [Bullard rises, deferential.] Well, Mr. Bul- 
lard! 

Senator Morse. We have our case well in hand, I 
think. 

Sir Richard. The case is in good hands, I am sure. Ha ! 
Ha! A poor attempt at a joke, Mr. Bullard. Quite so! 

Bullard. Many a case is well in hand in bad hands. 

Sir Richard. [Raising his voice with the righteous 
bluster of the Briton who knows he is right.] There are no 
bad hands here, however. The eyes of the world [Mary 
reappears at the door; Gulp looks up from his instrument; 
the Page Boys turn to stare at Sir Richard] are upon us. 
Justice will be done, though the Heavens fall. [Mary 
evinces elation. Sir Richard smacks his lips upon his 
words.] Quite so! Injustice is always a boomerang! In 
England, Mr. Bullard, a Parliamentary Agent would never 
think of extending his activities to the Law Courts. Our 
judgment here is on the knees of the Gods! 

[Bullard opens Ms mouth as if to speak "but, half- 
closing his mouth, looks at Sir Richard_, blandly 
at first, then quizzically, then as if restraining, 
under the influence of the gaze of Senator Morse, 
an incipient grin. The great bell in the tower of 
the Palace of Peace strikes once for the half 
hour.] 

Curtain. 



ACT IV. 



ACT IV. 

The curtain rises upon the situation upon which it de- 
scended. As the act proceeds, spectators come in and 
pass quietly into the Court Room. As each comes in, 
Mary steps back quickly and closes the door, reappear- 
ing again at once. 

BuLLARD. The majority of judges translate that "Jus- 
tice will be done, when [The elation of Mary fades] the 
heavens fall," Sir Richard— or an angel intervenes! 

[Gulp and the Page Boys look at Mary. The elation 
reappears. The Page Boys, at a signal from Gulp, 
disperse.] 

SiE Richard. Bad law and bad Latin. By the way, 
this is a wonderful monument to civilization. A Perma- 
nent Gourt of Arbitration, with duly appointed delegates 
from all nations ! It has concentrated the conscience and 
intellect of the world upon the substitution of law for war, 
and the hope of ridding mankind of the strangling incubus 
of standing armies. [Gulp crosses to Court Room unob- 
served.] Why, truly, this should be the judgment of the 
Gods! 

Senator Morse. And a shelter against their wrath ! 

BuLLARD. It hasn't accomplished much up to date. 

Sir Richard. Quite so! We meet in a little country 
kept in peace with warlike nations all about. 

BuLLARD. Holland is their door and window. War la 
still the king of international sports. 

Sir Richard. That's because we still allow sordid con- 
siderations to rule us. The chief cause of war is bond is* 
sues and the chief cause of bond issues is war. Too many 
people have gold to lend to the worst of enterprises, while 
the worthiest go begging. War debts are the eternal 
heritage of the unborn. The real God of War is the fiend 
with one virtue and a thousand vices who stands astride the 



146 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

world and says: "Money — that's me — and the world is 
mine 



V7 



BuLLARD. "A power which has dotted over the surface 
of the whole globe with her possessions and military posts ; 
whose morning drumbeat, following the sun and keeping 
company with the hours, circles the earth daily with one 
continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of 
England." 

Sir Richard. Those are outposts of civilization and the 
drumbeat was on the ships of the British Navy built to 
keep the peace of the seas. England's fleet has been pro- 
tecting American commerce for fifty years and Great 
Britain would gladly have all navies placed under inter- 
national control as international police. The world could, 
then, enforce disarmament, abolish standing armies, and 
enthrone universal peace. The heir of the future is now 
made the slave of the past. Mob and Money Power create 
one another and both unite for war. The record of Eng- 
land, fairly considered, is a refutation of the theory that 
preparedness for war is the prime essential or even an 
essential of a free, civilized state. 

Sbnatob Moesb. The war of the future will be for the 
just distribution of the fruits of social progress. 

Sib Bichabd. The first skirmish will be the battle for 
peace — the irreducible minimum of war. The odious at 
last attains the supreme merit of making itself intolerable 
and uniting those opposed to it. 

Sbnatob Mobsb. But in this war there*ll be no trouble- 
maker. The common people of all the world will be ar- 
rayed on the same side. They'll be inspired by prudence, 
moderation, and restraint, and will assert conciliatory 
principles. 

Bullabd. That won't happen nntil the military estab- 
lishments have destroyed one another at Armageddon. 

Sib Bichabd. Wherever more than ninety-nine per 
cent, are born with a mortgage on them held by less than 
one per cent., that must happen. 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 147 

BuLLARD. That's repudiation. 

Senator Morse. War costs are not assumed -willingly ! 

Sir Richard. Better have peace the leveller than war. 
The great deeds of war bring us all down. The great deeds 
of peace raise us all up. There's a fate awaiting govern- 
ments that rob their own people. Selfishness misleads us, 
Mr. Bullard — individuals, States, empires — the world I 

Senator Morse. It's a more dangerous condition in 
a free country, where the millions who have nothing to 
live on have everything to live for. 

Bullard. Hungry people only start riots; revolutions 
take time for organization, and funds and leisure to get 
results. Only the masters of railroads can make war. 

Sir Richard. The safe battle cry is already written on 
the scroll of the Palace of Peace: ^'Vrede door Recht en 
Recht door Yrede'' — "Peace through Justice and Justice 
through Peace." There lacks only: "Consciousness the 
Will informing, till it fashion all things fair." 

Bullard. Well, success to it. The idea is all right, if 
only men would carry it out. The very greatness of the 
peril should act as a brake, but it doesn't. I am afraid the 
Temple of Peace is built with untempered mortar. 

Senator Morse. Bullard as the Prophet Ezekiel ! 

Bullard. I am consistent. Hear the Prophet himself. 

"Therefore, thus saith the Lord God : Because ye have 
spoken vainly, and seen lies, therefore, behold I am against 
you, saith the Lord God. And mine hand shall be against 
the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies ; they shall 
not be in the council of my people — because, even because 
they have seduced my people, and when one buildeth up a 
wall, behold, they daub it with untempered mortar; say 
unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it 
shall fall — I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my 
fury — So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed 
with untempered mortar and bring it down to the ground, 
so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered; and it 
shall fall and ye shall be consumed in the midst tlicr-'of ; 



148 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

and ye shall know that / am the Lord. Thus will I accom- 
plish my fury upon the wall, and upon them that have 
daubed it with untempered mortar, and I will say unto 
you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it; to- 
wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning 
Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and 
there is no peace, saith the Lord God." 

Senator Morse. [Rising.] Bullard citing Scripture! 

BuLLARD. However right, always the Devil ! There's a 
time in life. Senator, when childhood's lessons seem to us 
to have been the sweetest and deepest of all. [As if the 
American in him tvere challenged by the Anglo-Saxon in 
Sir Richard into patriotic self-assertion.] We Americans, 
if we are to deserve and preserve our institutions, must 
be prepared to defend them ! [Dramatically and with per- 
ceptihle irony directed at Sir Richard. During this 
speech, Mary appears stirred with patriotic fervor, draws 
out the American flag, and, then, as if realising that it is 
only Bullard who speaks, thrusts it hack in the manner 
of an indignant officer who noisily sheathes his sword.] "It 
is vain. Sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, 
'Peace, Peace!' but there is no peace. Is life so dear, or 
peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains 
and slavery? Forbid it. Almighty God ! I know not what 
course others may take; but as for me — GIVE ME LIB- 
ERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!" 

Senator Morse. [Not to he outdone hefore Sir Richard 
hy such as Bullard.] Militarism and American prepared- 
ness cannot be hit by the same stone ! They are opposite ! 

Bullard. [Taking the running from Senator Morse 
and talking at Sir Richard.] This is the American posi- 
tion [Gulp crosses unobserved into Telegraph Office] that 
Avith us national military prowess is a moral duty. 

Senator Morse. The United States is, moreover, com- 
mitted not only by the very charter of its existence but 
also by every step in its course as a nation to enforce in all 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 149 

parts of the world and against all opposition the foreign 
policy, the tiscal program, the economic life, the moral 
purpose, the humanitarian precepts, and the principals of 
international justice for which the American people stand. 

BuLLARD. [Ratifying.] Yes, Sir Richard. The world 
expects, and our people will accept, no less. A proud na- 
tion must be prepared to fight or not too proud to fall. 

Sir Richard. Quite so ! Quite so ! Where, then, will the 
mad rush for armament end? 

Senator Morse. [Sitting dowti.] When America has 
established for the world that right is might! When the 
peoples of the world really have cause to love America— 
not for pretenses but for performance — America will no 
longer need to fear the invader. They'll all be disarmed ! 

Sir Richard. Yes! Yes! Quite so! There's a lesson in 
it, for all. The great national needs are not hostile, but 
complementary. If one mill out of every thousand dollars 
of taxation that is spent on pensions, war, and preparation 
for war were employed to develop mutual self-interest 
among the nations upon the basis of reciprocal advantage 
in foreign trade, the day of cosmic solidarity would dawn, 
and inside of twenty years warships would be a drug on 
the market, standing armies would be a memory, and all 
the armor-plate would be turned into plowshares. If peo- 
ple don't learn to co-operate, I don't know what the world 
will come to. Good business makes good friends. England 
has long given the example by opening her ports every- 
where free to all, even to those whose abuse of the privilege 
by unfair trade is notorious. That is a functional part of 
our policy of liberal conduct toward all men and all na- 
tions. Co-operation and reciprocity are the two greatest 
words in the English— or any other —language! Markets 
are the creative weapons of civilization; cannon are the 
destructive tools of barbarism. War! What could be 
worth it? Even the survivors, crippled, mangled, and en- 
feebled, conquering as well as conquere<l, thrown back 



150 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

generations in progress toward emancipation, and the whok 
world impoverished ! Everybody pays for every war I 

BuLLARD. I guess you're right. If people gave one 
per cent, of the attention to feeding and clothing one an- 
other that they give now to killing one another, it would be 
harder for our underwriters to raise a war anywhere on 
earth than to raise hair on a billiard ball, 

[BuLLARD goes into Court Room with Sir Richard; 
Mr. Spencer-Pryce^ the British agent, and Mr. 
Wells_, the American member, come in together, 
and pass into the Court Room. As they cross the 
stage their conversation is heard. During the 
folloiving, Bullard appears from time to time 
and observes what is going on in the Ante-Cham- 
ber. His demeanor makes it apparent to the audi- 
ence that he is supervising the cumulative shock 
of the disclosures made by the three judges and 
that their appearance in succession ivas prear- 
ranged by Bullard. Enter Ledoux. He speaks 
with a decided French accent and without facil- 
ity, as one who speaks one language while thinking 
in another. Mary has furtively noted his en- 
trance. '\ 
Ledoux. Good morning, my very dear Mr. Senator. 
Senator Morse. Good morning, Monsieur Ledoux. You 
are well, I hope? 

Ledoux. In one way, yes. But I am a little sad. 
Spencer-Pryce. Sir Richard, our own member, is pre- 
cisely the man I have to fear. In the Alaska Boundary 
Case he decided against the Dominion and in favor of your 
country. 

Mr. Wells. Believe me, my country's only desire is to 
decide right. 

Spencer-Pryce. I do believe you. There is Sir Richard. 
Senator Morse. \Who has suspended to acknowledge 
with Ledoux the nods of Spencer-Pryce and Wells.] I 
am sorry to hear that. Nothing wrong, I hope? 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 151 

Ledoux. It is nothing: — the impending case. It leaves 
me — confused. This Canal was to be ours, was it not? 
You see, I take the inteirsts of your country much to heart. 
The historic souvenirs which unite the two Republics 
have created imperishabh^ ties between them. 

Senator Morse. There is, too, a natural sympathy for 
us among Republics — our history, our institutions, and our 

progress [Sitting doicn.] Pray, be seated. 

Ledoux. [Mary pect^s out.] And especially your 
women. [Sitting down.] I find them incomparable! 

Senator Morse. That is a compliment always touches 
us. We place our women high in the United States. That 
is why America remains at peace with the world — and has 
never suffered defeat in war. 

Ledoux. The American woman — the most beautiful, 
I believe, of all. She has done me the honor to show me a 
preference. 

Senator Morse. Oh! I see. You are speaking of an 

individual. You married an ? 

Ledoux. Of course, I am married, but in France — well, 
you know we are liberal. 

Senator Morse. So I understand. 
Ledoux. The French marriage system is immoral and 
abominable. 

Senator Morse. That plea for surrender to superior 
charms is heard the world over. 

Ledoux. You are unjust, my dear Senator. Our laws 
are made for the mind, while every Frenchnmn is ruled by 
the heart. 

Senator Morse. The more reason, perhaps, for the 

laws. Women " 

Ledoux. But our women rebel. 
Senator Morse. True American women, as you will 
find, believe that the old-fashioned law of mari-iu^e is the 
origin, source, and cause of morality, that infraction of its 
laws is an abomination, and tlie origin, source, and cause 
of all abominations. 



152 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Lbdoux. But the American woman, with her smiling 
skill, is so diplomatic. I have been comi)letely won by 
her — on this question. Young and fresh ! La heaute du 
diable! 

Senator Morse. Then she has done my work. for me. 
Many of her sisters would have liked my place before this 
Tribunal. 

Ledoux. But the work of woman is too subtle. She 
works not in court, but in courting. Is that well said? 
Ha ! Ha I By her we are enslaved. 

Senator Morse. [Fishing.] I have heard it said that 
American moneyed interests use women in their foreign 
service. Is that so? 

Ledoux. No, my dear Mr. Senator. It is absurd. There 
are no American moneyed interests — only underwriters for 
foreign money. 

Senator Morse. The United States 

Ledoux. — is a debtor nation, and never lent a dollar 
abroad in its history. It is France which holds the w^orld's 
gold and sells it to England and to Germany — even for mil- 
itary cash-in-hand — or to lend to the rest of the nations. 
You see from that there is nothing in the conduct of France 
of a nature to render any one uneasy who himself has no 
aggressive intentions. The moneyed interests of France 
do not need an American agent to see me. 

Senator Morse. But the fair diplomat? 

Ledoux. Mademoiselle has argued for the common peo- 
ple. She makes light of the struggles for peace through the 
balance of power. She cannot know the value even of this 
balance, what it prevents, and at what cost it has been 
maintained. Precisely the cost — Enfin! — she ridicules it! 

Senator Morse. Ah ! 

Ledoux. But I cannot resist personally her flattery. 
When she told me that America makes men great, she 
said to me, [Risinrf] "How great would you not have been, 
had you been an American !" 

Senator Morse. [Rising.] Ah! 



THE WAISTREL HOARD. 153 

Ledoux. And I answer that the rapprochement of gov- 
ernments of different types advances the popnlar type. See 
Avhat we have done for the Kussian peojjle? 

Senator Morse. Loans to their government? Are not 
understandings among peoples more reliable than treaties 
and counter-assurances of governments? 

Ledoux. You are a student, Senator, and we are both 
practical men. We know that the common people live from 
the store of the guardians of wealth. 

Senator Morse. Little brothers of the rich. 

Ledoux. Exactly I The moneyed interests of France 
made me, and I serve mankind best as their creature. The 
masters of commercial destiny caused to be passed the 
American law you are defending. To that T must bow. 
In a question of such gravity, no eventuality should be lost 
sight of. You may count on me. 

Senator Morse. You must not expect me to express my 
thanks. 

Ledoux. You have much to do. I will not disturb you. 

Senator Morse. On the contrary. 

Ledoux. I shall regret for the lady, but I shall be for- 
ever proud by my vote to have stood for the advancement 
of commerce and the prosperity of the world. \Vith my 
country your Republic has always had an entente cordiale. 
We have never been unfriendly, [Mary disappears.] and I 
rejoice that we shall not begin here. We arm for others I 

Senator Morse. I hope not — [In a different tone] — for 
your sake as well as ours. 

Ledoux. Bonne chancel Farewell, until we meet again, 
the battle won. 

[Ledoux exits into Court Room. Senator Morse 
tcalks toward the Court Room door, lost in 
thought, turns mechanically to walk hack, and 
sees Baron Liebig von Speidel enter. Liebio von 
Si'EIDEl speaks EmjUsh with a decided Ocr)iian 
arrrnt, and without facility, as one who speaks 



154 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

one language while thinking in another. He is 
brutally positive and cocksure. His gestures re- 
tain the preciseness of a trained soldier. . Mary 
hears him.] 

LiEBiG VON Speidel. Good morning, my dear Mr. Sen- 
ator. 

Senator Morse. Good morning, Baron. 

LiEBiG VON Speidel, I hope for the pleasure to see you 
in United States [sic] very soon. 

Senator Morse. A government matter? 

Liebig von Speidel. No, a financial matter. [Mary 
risks being observed.] You see, when I was Ambassa- 
dor 

[Liebig von Speidel removes his hat as if in a sor 
lute J and holds it in his hand ceremoniously.] 

Senator Morse. Don't remove your hat, Baron. 

Liebig von Speidel. When a German official speaks of 
himself, always, out of respect for the service, he must 
remove his hat. 

Senator Morse. Pardon me. 

Liebig von Speidel. Certainly. The custom is spread- 
ing, becoming universal, out of respect for All-German 
unity. [Resuming the thread of his speech.] Also, when I 
was Ambassador, I was called upon to serve important 
German financial interests. I resigned to become their 
agent. That is the regular way of financial interests to 
reward officials who are good to them. I get more money 
now, but I was more effective as Ambassador. 

Senator Morse. You surprise me. 

Liebig von Speidel. Every minister in Washington 
does the same thing. In the Chancelleries of Europe, that 
fact is taken for granted. 

Senator Morse. Go abroad to learn about your own 
country ! 

Liebig von Speidel. Is that wrong? Is it not better to 
be conquered by business than by guns? My first hypothe- 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 155 

sis, I hope, deprives the second of all offensive character. 
You see, my method is comparatively harmless. 

Senator Morse. If bent on conquest, why the diplo- 
macy? How could any nation get its big guns into the 
United States? 

Leibig von Speidel. Donnerwetter! In United States 
[sic] — we make them!! [Sitting down.] It will be the 
centre for Krupp — Pittsburgh ! ! ! For Mexico, now — ! 

Senator Morse. Controlled by Americans — the Amer- 
ican money combination — they'd freeze you out so tight, 
your soft coal wouldn't even thaw. 

LiEBiG VON Speidel. There is in United States [sic] SL 
master race. It is our kind of people. It rules the natives 
wherever it settles. We have common enemies, we will be 
common friends together — with our common habits and 
ambitions and culture. The leaders of this race will suf- 
focate your American money combination with greater 
money. They are now the embryo of a branch of Krupp. 
The day will come. We will together be the centre! Now 
you are a statesman. American democracy, you know — ! 

Senator Morse. An American statesman. There 
seems to be a difference. The political position of money 
hasn't yet been made official. 

LiEBiG VON Speidel. Every American minister is the 
agent of American financiers at his foreign post. "Every 
government," said Bismarck, "takes solely its own interest 
as the standard of its actions, however it may drape them 
with deductions of sentiment." What do you expect of 
diplomats — if this is diplomacy ! In the relations of diplo- 
matists, right and wrong, justice and injustice have no 
place. Our partner in United States has more to do with 
naming your ambassadors than your people have — am- 
bassadors to In future you may have power! 

Senator Morse. [Pacing nervously.] Nonsense! 

Liebig von Speidel. To us— to our enemies— to our 
allies — to our friends. Ambitious American statesmen! 

Senator Morse. [Thinking.] No? 



156 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

LiEBiG VON Speidel. Why not! The greatest banking 

overseer in your country is our man He alone controls. 

To defeat the politicians, he made the system to be run by 
politicians, and had himself made head politician. From 
the lookout he watches every bark on your financial sea. 

Senator Morse. A strange pilot. At least, little is 
concealed from him. 

LiEBiG VON Speidel. What have the rabble to do with 
government? ISlun! Das Pohel in der Weltpolitik! Our 
brewers take care of the proletariat, — We give you kings ! 

Senator Morse, One of them alone pays five hundred 
thousand dollars every year to the newspapers to convince 
our people that beer is a food and that prohibition is a 
restraint upon liberty. Would they govern America! 

LiEBiG VON Speidel. Better men enjoy themselves and 
not try to be serious like every one a cabinet minister. It is 
not they who give us our place in the sun. The great men of 
the world today are the grand marshals of industry and 
finance. If you — were — allowed, you would destroy your 
trusts. We foster our Kartel. You are sentimental for the 
people. But the day will come. Then you will know your 
American business leaders are greater than politicians, 
who will sell out to any customer, domestic or foreign, and 
sometimes to both at once, greater than jurisconsults. 
Presidents, or Kings — because — they are our friends. Our 
Kaiser — he is the master — I say it in all kindness — he does 
not flesh his sword — he is the "Guardian of the World's 
Peace " He is the big business man of the whole w^orld. 

Senator Morse. What a religion ! It fetters the intel- 
lect absolutely, 

LiEBiG VON Speidel, Because established. Only the 
strong should preach. Establish any religion ; I'll be for it. 
So the mind may speculate on useful things. Every man's 
religion is the best. In Germany intelligence is uniform ; 
not only the humblest subject's body but his individuality 
is dressed like the highest. Every brain in Germany wears 
a Prussian uniform. That's freedom of the intellect ! That 



TEE WASTREL HOARD. 157 

is emancipation from outlandish error I Is England's es- 
tablished religion better? Is it free? If it is, still the world 
pays dear for it. Believe the word of a German who has 
always had great sympathy for you. The English body 
goes naked, fed on British institutions and clothed in 
thought, while the brain wears servant's livery. England 
as a prophet of religion is as serious as a Jew peddler, who 
talks to you to keep your mind from the bargain. Long 
since has England unpriced silver in the London market 
and, while shouting Christianity to the West, keeps the 
East and West apart, pays to the East in silver and sells 
to the West for gold, and puts the profits into its own ships 
and into the armies of its mercenary allies — to pull Eng- 
land's chestnuts out of the fire and maintain its tyranny 
over all ports and seas. Some of your statesmen, too, have 
seen that. We give the world unity and culture! 

Senator Morse. Is this why your partner leads our 
campaigns for popular reform? 

LiEBiG VON Speidel. Well, he's a peaceful little Bis- 
marck. Didn't I put my son in his house in New York — a 
coming diplomat — to learn the business. Don't quote me I 
[Rising.] Don't quote me! International henker [sic]. 
That's me ! 

Senator Morse. Banking is an improper conduit for 
diplomacy ! 

LiEBiG VON Speidel. 8oF It undid for Napoleon what 
Nelson did at Trafalgar! 

Senator Morse. Times have changed ! 

LiEBiG VON Speidel. You have the same means to sweep 
England from the sea. 

Senator Morse. What is it, pray? 

LiEBiG VON Speidel. The Canal ! That's what you are 
here for. That is why Napoleon was at Berlin! This is a 
day of fate. Napoleon called his lock-out against England 
the "Berlin Decree." We have our own Canal already. 

Senator Morse. Ours is for commerce; yours is for 
war. And we'll make it a weapon for peace ! 



158 TEE WASTREL HOARD. 

LiEBiG VON Speidel. [Sits down.'\ It's the same thing. 
It has long been set down that England will never make 
war for a question of honor ! England is a traitor to the 
white race and the yellow. 

Senator Morse. And to take England's place, you 
need our Canal ! Yellow isn't always a surface color ! 

LiEBiG VON Speidel. It is the power to close the seas. 

Senator Morse. Or to keep them open. 

LiEBiG VON Speidel. For British ships alone. You 
haven't any yet. 

Senator Morse. To prevent that is your mission. 

LiEBiG von Speidel. And America must work with us. 

Senator Morse. And the little American partner? 

LiEBiG von Speidel. Can be a Bismarck for United 
States [sic] — and mobilize your financial resources. 

Senator Morse. And get us into war. 

LiEBiG von Speidel. Absolutely not! We would make 
the Cosmos and we would rule it — that is what is in the 
German mind. 

Senator Morse. We would make a Federated Repub- 
lican Cosmos with no man to rule it — that is what was in 
the greatest German mind. 

LiEBiG VON Speidel. Who said that? The Kaiser? 

Senator Morse. No. One of the eleven children of a 
poor saddler of Konigsberg — Immanuel Kant. He is the 
German we follow with his plan for perpetual peace! 
Greater than your Pax Teutonica, greater than the ancient 
PacB Romana, will be the perpetual Pax Americana! 

LiEBiG VON Speidel. No ! You must work with us. That 
war will be the germ, the embryo, of a new world. We'll 
help you. 

Senator Morse. Afterward! 

Liebig von Speidel. Our American partner. 

Senator Morse. We'll need help, but not his. Bis- 
marck ! Midas is what I should call him. He makes mil- 
lions on a public bond issue over night without the risk of 
a cent. Sharks follow, not lead, the Ship of State! 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 159 

LiEBiG VON Speidbl. Maecenas, perhaps. He supports 
music in your vulgar New York. And your American girls 
come to sing for us. They absorb our language and cul- 
ture. 

Senator Morse. And lose their own — the greatest sing- 
ing language. We have opera without artists — which 
everybody stands because nobody understands — by singers 
who can't sing — but — que voulez-vouz — they know — all the 
words — when the prompter — also a foreigner — secretly 
shouts them to them. The hardy annuals of Europe thrive 
in our New York climate ! Fixed stars in a i^ainted sky ! 

LiEBiG von Speidel. Youv girls captivate our royalty. 

Senator Morse. And serve — the Imperial — highnesses! 

LiEBiG VON Speidel. A high honor! 

Senator Morse. Honor outweighs the highest honors! 

LiBBiG von Speidel. [With a meaning smile. 1 But we 
make them kammersdngcrinnen .' 

Senator Morse. Whom a king — kills — is none the less 
— dead ! 

LiEBiG von Speidel. We help them to get up ! 

Senator Morse. [Looking at Baron Speidel sharply 
and putting the ultimate of disgust into a dry monotone, 
expressing , in one icord and one glance, his comprehension 
and his opinion of the defense.^ Afterward!! 

LiEBiG VON Speidel. [Dense to the rehuke.] Now, I 
have aided the most charming of your countrywomen to an 
enviable position and — [Smiling ivickedly] — she has not 
been ungrateful to me, I assure you. 

Senator Morse. [Sensing a relation between this pro- 
fession and that of Ledoux.] H'm ! She flattered you ! 

LiEBiG VON Spiedel. No ! [Rising.] ^he admired me I 
*'How great would you not have been," she said, "had you 
been an American!" The backfisch! My conquest of Amer- 
ica! [Mary scowls.] German youth must be served, you 
know. 



160 TEE WASTREL HOARD. 

^^Mddchen und Burgen 
Miissen sich geben; 
Das ist ein Stilrmen! 
Das ist ein Lehen!" 

That is the life ! {Beating Ms chest with his clenched fist. 
Mary^s fist doubles up.] That is the kind of men we are! 
There are, of course, men, like Bismarck, who unite genius 
with a strict manner of living, but they appear only once 
in a hundred years. We strong men — I 

Senator Morse. My dear Baron — in our country, Ger- 
man-Americans 

LiEBiG VON Speidel. American Germans. They remain 
what they were born. Our old God — the God of Moses — 
fights for us all. 

Senator Morse. That old God was neither Christlike 
nor divine. Tom Paine whipped him single-handed over a 
century ago and neither Jew nor Gentile in America stands 
for such a God now. 

LiEBiG von Speidel. Our old God remains yet Our Lord 
God of Hosts! Even our Jews destroyed your treaty 
with Russia for us. We now stand between. Your com- 
merce and theirs — are ours. It is the origin that always 
counts, the seed, the germ — das keim — the 

Senator Morse. [Warning Mary away.] The embryo. 

Liebig von Speidel. That is it — the embryo and they 
are for us the embryo of German America. We send them 
there as the advance guard of pacific penetration. Even the 
radicals of forty-eight will count. Already our beer, our 
fiilssiges trod for stamina, our Kultur for eflflciency ! 

Senator Morse. Pacific penetration is a French policy. 

Liebig von Speidel. [With lascivious contempt.] 
France! — Ha! — We love her! Her women, we use. Her 
men! — Ha! — We let them drink themselves dead! If 
not ! [Mary disappears.] But to America 

Senator Morse. Your love for America is, I hope, 
strictly platonic. 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 161 

LiEBiG VON Speidel. Nufi! To America we send to get 
a footing. At home the people increase so fast. 

Senator Morse. In the country but not of it — that is 
immoral — contra honos mores! 

Leibig von Speidel. Worry yourself not. Distinction but 
no difference. Soon wc — he — it — in all kindness — for your 
good I Only real democracy can resist das Eaiscrthiim! 
[LiEBiG VON Speidel spies Bullard.] 

LiEBiG VON Spiedel. [To SENATOR MoRSE.] Gluck auf! 
[Calling sharply to Bullard.] See here — du, Bullard I 

[Bullard comes to the door of the Court Room. He 
exchanges glances with Liebig von Speidel, and, 
noting that Pskov has entered the Ante-Chamher, 
heckons to Liebig von Speidel, so that Pskov 
may be alone with Senator Morse. Liebig von 
Speidel goes to Bullard, tcho engages him in 
conversation, so as to prevent him from returning 
to Senator Morse, and takes him into the Court 
Room. The Senator looks serious. He sees Culp, 
who has come out of the office, goes up to him and 
speaks to him.] 

Senator Morse. You heard him? 

Culp. I did. 

Senator Morse. "Pigs is pigs." 

Culp. I read the book. And I've had German measles ! 
And I have watched the burrowing of the German mole ! ! 

Senator Morse. But why should some people increase 
so fast? Error spreads over the world with them! 

Culp. To keep out others. 

Senator Morse. Who refuse to see the necessity. 

Culp. People who don't stand up for right and justice 
encumber the earth. Error must be killed wherever found ! 

Senator Morse. And America has actually sworn al- 
legiance to this foreign population ! 

Culp. Domestic pigs will be found crowding to the 
public trough with the foreign! 



162 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Senator Morse. They are — a — menace — to the whole 
world ! The old-fashioned, decent man is the modern Atlas ! 

[Baron Pskov comes forward. The Baron speaks 
English with a perceptible accent and without 
facility, as one tcho speaks one language while 
thinking in another. He is very frank in manner, 
hut kindly. Senator Morse sees Pskov and nods 
to Gulp, and goes up and greets Pskov. Gulp 
retires and Mary reappears at door.'\ 

Pskov. Good morning, Senator. [Jocosely.'] Sdoroh- 
svuite! [Seriously.] You look worried. 

Senator Morse. [Removing his hat with mock cere- 
mony.] Honored, I assure you. 

Pskov. [In polite protest.] No! Not to me. ^ 

Senator Morse. [Attempting to make Liebig von 
Speidel hear.] No, no! I raise my hat to the humblest 
human being — as the noblest work of God. 

Pskov. [Glancing toward the Court Room, and appear- 
ing to understand.] Pardon me! [Removing his hat.] 
My dear Senator, I wish you success. 

Senator Morse. Your good-will may conflict with duty. 

Pskov. But it's only as a judge I am with you. 

Senator Morse. You reverse yourself cheerfully. 

Pskov. A judge has to be pliable. 

Senator Morse. That should disqualify him. That's 
a sterile life. It's dishonest. 

Pskov. Oh ! I am an honest man — honest to the inter- 
est I serve. But / serve only one master. I make no false 
pretense of judicial impartiality. / let litigants know! 
Senator Morse. We fear benevolence in a despot! 
Pskov. They sin who come between sovereign and 
subject. 

Senator. With us the sovereign is the people ! 

Pskov. With us, as with you, justice rests not upon 
law, but upon power. The only difference is that we don't 
lie about it. And we really have the thing called national 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 163 

spirit. Everybody knows who our boss is. My friend and 
master, the Czar, is the Little Father of his people. 

Senator Morse. He protects his children from new 
ideas. Yet he sells them vodka and takes the profits I 

Pskov. Yes. The virus of a new idea is more powerful 
than dytiamite. Vodka keeps our unshaped mass con- 
tented ! Europe is still governed by its memories. -The illu- 
sion of the visionary philanthropist that the present condi- 
tions in civilized states are fortuitous, arbitrary, or change- 
able at will is corrected by a grasp of the psychological ele- 
ment in the plan and purpose of the great minds in the his- 
tory of diplomacy to thwart vast combinations of force and 
to preserve peace for the evolution of progressive ideals. 

Senator Morse. What mind made China quit opium? 

Pskov. Call it Czar! Like our worship before the 
ikofij which the outside world so little understands, he is 
the centre of the spirit of national unity— and fortunate it 
is that a nation has such a centre — and sometimes for the 
rest of the world. It is our Nicholas and not your Uncle 
Sam who initiated the movement for a permanent interna- 
tional Court of Arbitration, and his Ambassador, Nelidoff, 
laid the cornerstone of this temple. The world may laugh 
at the Czar's ikon, but the world will some day take off its 
hat to the Czar's eirenikon. Peace strengthens democracy 
and war strengthens autocracy, and the Czar fights for 
peace. In your country, with a strong and untrammeled 
executive directed by a single will, wise reforms could be 
carried out, the w^eak defended against the strong, the 
resources of the country developed to their full extent, the 
hesitations, delays, and contradictions caused by barren 
discussion avoided, and the national forces concentrated 
on objects w^orth the aim. Think it over. 

Senator Morse. My race has thought it over for a 
thousand years. Despotism is anti-parliamentarian. It is 
in public discussion that the world's freedom has been 
workofl out. But that requires ns. as you say, in case of 
need, to ^'fhink it over!" We would disarm Kings! 



164 THE WASTREL HOARD, 

Pskov. I know kings who would put your pocket pa- 
triots to blush for their parliamentarianism. [Bullard 
and LiEBiG voN Spbidel laugh.] You let themj aliens, men 
without a country, break your treaty with our autocracy ! 
Your negro slavery during the reign of King Cotton only 
served the greater political slavery which is still main- 
tained under King Eum and King Money. Some day you'll 
have to fight these invaders on the last foot of American 
soil. Our Czar stands between the people and such en- 
slavers. In Kussia ninety per cent, of the land is owned 
by the peasants. The system of your money dynasts is in 
embryo yet; wait and see what they leave the third and 
fourth generation. That baby'll be the giant that gets new 
strength every time it puts its foot on the ground, or on the 
neck of humanity. Patriotism ! Last refuge of the scoundrel ! 

Senator Morse. You are very frank. 

Pskov. Never express surprise when a Kussian noble 
tells you a truth. Our benevolent despot has taught the 
world many truths. When the Little Father sees, he 
speaks,, and his word is law. Whatever our sins, we have 
national character. Your nation means well, but cannot 
carry out national intentions. You are powerless against 
an evil or an enemy. When I tell you, I will vote for you, 
my word is good. I have promised. 

Senator Morse. Because we are right, or unenviable ! 

Pskov. You should not care. One of your women has 
convinced me you are neither. There alone you lead ! 

Senator Morse. She must have a fine mind. 

Pskov. She has youth, charm, and vitality. She was 
what you call my affinity. [Rapidly and with enthusiasm. "l 
Ona poluhsroslaya dyehushka; ona goluhchik; ona milaya 
pier sick ; — she — a peach — a pippin ! You neglect them! 

Senator Morse. The sex appeal in politics. She ad- 
mired you, perhaps? Beware! Beauty is only skin deep ! 

Pskov. "How great," she said, "would you not have 
been, had you been an American I" She prospered ahroadl 

Senator Morse. Half for you and half for America! 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 165 

[BuLLABD laughs.] How seductive her accent on the "not"! 

Pskov. But it does not prevail. I am not a moujik! 
I am not a yokel ! The charm of sex may go to the head but 
it accomplishes little in the way of intellectual conversion. 
[Pskov sees Bullard, and breaks off in a matter of fact 
way.] There is Bullard — he's a good soul. He is my boss 
here. I must go to him. Disagree with America ! [Going 
into Court Room.] It must be a bolder judge than / ! 

Senator Morse. [Half to himself.] Gulp? 

[Enter Victor_, looks about vacantly, goes into 
Court Room, comes out and goes to telephone, 
talks, and comes out. He appears more settled 
than in the first act; he is very manly and 
earnest.] 

Victor. [Observing him.] Good morning, Senator. 

Senator Morse. [Amused.] Good morning, Victor. 

Victor. You'll excuse my rushing to the telephone. 

Senator Morse. I admire you for it. I'd never dare to 
use a telephone in Europe. When people see me, they talk 
English. Even the children — to my shame — not only rat- 
tle on to one another in Dutch, but, out of respect, for my 
ignorance, I guess, address me in English. The Dutch 
print is not so bad. But an American who can use the 
telephone in Holland is a wonderful linguist. 

Victor. Well, I confess I wasn't very successful. There 
are a lot of Hollanders who don't speak Dutch the way / do. 
Perhaps you can help me. At Scheveningen, I questioned an 
apparently intelligent Irish maid in perfectly good Eng- 
lish, and all I could get out of her was : [Victor attempts 
to imitate.] "We're just stupid foreigners, and we don't 
know nothing." Now, what do you think of that? Eh! 

Senator Morse. [Laughing.] I agree with her! We 
are ! Our civilization, like beauty, is only skin deep ! 

Victor. Funny, wasn't it? Eh ! Got my Dutch up ! 
She had the grandest American baby with her I ever saw. 
He looked about two, but bright ! I'll bet I could have got 
more out of him than from the maid ! Funny, wasn't it? Eh ! 



166 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Senator Morse. [Evincing awakened curiosity.] 
Very ! Come, let us sit down. Tell me about that ! 

[Victor and Senator Morse sit at left of stage, near 
the telephone. The door behind the telegraph 
office opens wider. Senator Morse watches it.] 

Senator Morse. What are you doing here? 

Victor. Well, to tell the truth, I'm looking for Mary. 
I want to see you two together. 

Senator Morse. You've heard her sing, haven't you? 

Victor. Have I ! I've followed her from one capital to 

another and witnessed all her triumphs — beginning with 

that glorious night at Monte Carlo. What a Cio-Cio-San ! 

[Victor attempts, in imitation, to sing the opening 

phrases of Butterfly's song, "Un hel di, vedremo."] 

Senator Morse. [Laughing.] That i^as beautiful I 

Victor. [Joining in the laugh, then wawing enthusias- 
tic again.] I don't hear it as you do. It's a memory. And 
I'll never forget it — never! She just played the harp 
on our heartstrings and brought all our feelings into our 
throats. At the last I could see her only through a mist of 
tears, but I could feel that she was Madame Butterfly her- 
self! That Toice! It haunts me — like an echo — of an 
American bugle call. A great American singing actress! 
Her acting would be music to the deaf, her singing color to 
the blind! Chorley should have lived to do her justice! 

Senator Morse. I'm proud of her ! Just think of it ! 
Making foreigners cry ! And in plain English, too ! 

Victor. And always that silk American flag! By 
George, that girl will make the world feel what music 
means. The most envious wouldn't deny that. "Bully good 
method," said a beefy Briton beside me, with a catch in his 
voice and a dab at his eye — "a bit tricky though !" After the 
first night they even stopped — flirting with the goddess 
that bore them — in order to hear her — and some swore off 

for the time ! Yes — and gave up their cocktails at the 

American Bar! — And the importunate suitors — rich and 
noble — even royal ! Music is a great civilizer ! 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 167 

Senator Morse. You don't say so! It is a sensation 
that'll wean a tippler f lom his "tots" of brandy ! 

Victor. Don't I? If I'd been a duellist, I'd have been 
dead long ago. 

Senator Morse. She'd teach them their distance. 

.Victor. [Not pausing to notice the Senator's remark.] 
But she led them on, preaching her new gospel of popular 
world unity. "Social neurasthenics," she called them, 
and "sleek darlings of society," "the smart world's latest 
crop." At Monaco. What an object lesson, right at hand ! 
She made the most of it. "A typical government," she 
called it — "little — miniature — but unashamed." 

Senator Morse. She's Sam's own child. 

Victor. She preached to me, too. She ip\d me that, 
because of my wealth, I counted only as a danger to myself 
and a menace to society. Bees would kill me as a drone! 

Senator Morse. And you liked it ! 

Victor. I was fascinated. "Our rich young men have 
been nursed with a narcotic of luxury, doped with dollars 
from their infancy, elated with alcohol from their youth, 
and have grown up to become useless for their country, 
and like the spirit that buoys them, a social scourge." 

Senator Morse. [Laughing.] And you were the proof. 

Victor. "Every dollar of waste is a dollar of evil." 
She's for what she calls the "dynamic dollar." "A dollar's 
like a man," she says, "no use unless it's working. Boost- 
ing booze is no work for either. If when rid of their dollars 
the rich have any sense left, they will roll on the ground in 
sheer joy at being for the first time really ^free and equal.' " 

Senator Morse. Victor, she has chosen you to lead her 
revolution. 

Victor. She has ordered me, first of all — [Victor 
hesitates] — to get married. 

Senator Morse. That takes two. 

Victor. The coincidence is that the girl has Mary's 
notions. 

Senator Morse. You'll find plenty of young women 



168 THE WASTREL BOARD. 

who will yield their notions for the prospect of marrying 
you. 

Victor. And, perhaps, no other who won't. 

Senator Morse. What does the girl say? 

Victor. Nothing definite. I am forced to gness. 

Senator Morse. Haven't you spoken to her? 

Victor. Not directly. [Timorously.] I must first 
speak to her father. 

Senator Morse. [Reminiscently.] That is the hard 
thing to do ! 

Victor. [Squirming noticeably.] Yes — that is! 

Senator Morse. If you are sure she's the only girl, 
that is half the battle. 

Victor. [Encouraged.] At least, she is the only girl I 
have ever seen that wasn't dying to marry me. And what 
they are after, she won't have at all. She insists that I 
give my fortune away — to American universities. 

Senator Morse. What ! More pensions and easy money 
for "The Truthseeking Union of Tired Professors !" 

Victor. No I The income to be distributed in scholar- 
ships. 

Senator Morse. Yes. 

Victor. To boys and girls who gain entrance before 
sixteen. If, as is said, real education begins after gradua- 
tion from college, what's the use of postponing it? 

Senator Morse. That's good — to finish before mar- 
riageable age. Married youth seldom spoils for trouble. 
Knowledge that enables parents to raise children is the 
beginning and ending of useful education. 

Victor. And with the condition that every boy or girl 
in each university learn incidentally a useful, creative man- 
ual trade 

Senator Morse. That's good, too — to be able to earn 
their own living. Educational cant closed to me the ave- 
nues of modern life and the fountains of living thought. 

Victor. And as a sheet-anchor to windward for vocar 
tional misfits. 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 169 

Seinator Morse. A life-saver. Our modem universi- 
ties seem designed to teach everything except what's use- 
ful. They certainly teach our best manhood to get drunk! 
The college diploma is most often as harmful as a certain 
kind of food, which makes you feel full before you have 
really eaten anything I The college fetich should be the 
first to go. 

Victor. And a reminder to those who feel themselves 
above the common economy of the universe, that mind is 
not the brain alone, but the whole body, and that true edu- 
cation must respond to the aggregate needs as well as the 
individual,, and to the physical and social as well as the 
mental and moral needs of each and all. 

Senator Morse. She'd make working universal and 
the working world a university. Our centres of learning 
are now mutual admiration societies on pension — and 
little more. 

Victor. A world not of half-men nor of supermen, 
neither hardened nor soft, but 

Senator Morse. Just average men and women, not 
each, as now, a football, but parts of an army of human 
beings possessed in the mass of football vim and strategy 
and team play and generalship applicable to the highest 
uses of national welfare, progress, or defense. 

Victor. That's it — and a democracy conscious of its 
power and of its corporate responsibility for popular edu- 
cation and achievement. A nation an everworking army ! 

Senator Morse. There's more real wealth in popular 
education of that kind than in all the gold mines of the 
world. To pay for food and clothing for the children of 
the poor at school would be a rich investment. Ignorance 
costs us billions every year — mixed w^ith poverty and its 
miseries — and it hasn't begun its destruction. Wait until 
the European war comes and the war-swept races debouch 
into the United States— it's a volcano that hasn't yet ex- 
ploded. 

Victor. Shall they remain bookworms, grubs, become 



170 TEE WASTREL HOARD. 

butterflies in the sun — moths to the flame — or shall they 
feed like silkworms on the Tree of Gold? It took forty-five 
hundred years for them to make an American flag, but the 
work was worth it. Shall King Alcohol pull it down! 

Senator Morse. But you really appreciate these things 
because they lead to the girl — to durable realities underly- 
ing ephemeral appearances. 

Victor. Now, I really appreciate the girl because she 
leads to these things. 

Senator Morse. And your mind is made up? 

Victor. I have had the papers drawn — and I've given 
my attorney in New York full power to sign them. I'm to 
cable. 

Senator Morse. Victor. Let me shake your hand. I 
had begun to think there wasn't a generous impulse left 
in humanity. 

Victor. Do you believe in the plan? 

Senator Morse. I've always dreamed a lot of beliefs. 
In the last half hour, I've adopted some I didn't think I'd 
ever countenance. A world triumvirate, Mammon, Mars, 
and Mercury! Greed, Force, and Cunning! Great Gods! 
Our Congressmen ought to be made to prowl around the 
countries our people come from — for about six months. 
Bullard was right ! Blindness is a crime. I now believe that 
the right to leave property above a certain amount should 
be limited to a choice of public work to be supported. I 
believe that's a fair and practical way to bring the owner- 
ship of the public property of the country back into the 
hands of the people of the country, where it belongs, and to 
take back the public's due proportion of the principal and 
the profits of properties given by the public through the 
criminal carelessness of its guardians or the criminal con- 
spiracy between those guardians and the private benefi- 
ciaries. I believe that none but mothers and children 
should share in the decedent's estate. I believe that as a 
safeguard there should be a heavy tax — enforced by an 
expansion of the Statute of Frauds — on every large pri- 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 171 

vate gift. And I believe that up to the twenty-first year 
of living persons is long enough to tie up property. 

Victor. You are against the rich, too. 

Senator Morse. No. I'm against the too rich. 

Victor. The predatory rich? 

Senator Morse. All great riches are predatory. It's 
only big fortunes that aren't hurt by conditions their ex- 
istence creates. To bring about a means of circulating 
money, we have actually had to adopt an absolute concen- 
tration of control — while the only thing needed was a 
breaking up and distribution of ownership. 

Victor. But you propose to make the present genera- 
tion pay for the next. 

Senator Morse. No. What I wish is to relieve the next 
generation of paying for this, and to give it a chance to 
work for itself — other races are eager enough to curtail 
that without our helping them. 

Victor. But it's taxing prosperity. 

Senator Morse. It's taxing inactivity. It will do 
away with present burdens on business. It'll mix men and 
money up a little more, and end our automatic panics. I 
believe that private control of surplus wealth is a curse, 
and that it should be as little subject to withdrawal from 
common use as the railroads, the river, the seashore, or 
the high sea. The big unit should always be for public 
use. Such a theory dispenses with regulation of private 
initiative unworkable except for political purposes. 

Victor. But we must have a leisure class ; their contri- 
bution is essential. 

Senator Morse. All the leisure we can afford should 
be apportioned to all. Rest is not idleness. 

Victor. Philanthropy is a great corrective, isn't it? 
Think of the millions devoted to charity. 

Senator Morse. By reason of church politics and State 
politics, not one per cent, reaches its object. Not political 
or religious opinion, but charity in a broad sense is the one 
object of society. Until that is expressed in law, philan- 



172 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

thropy will be only a dream. Social service Should not be 
a fad ; it's a public duty. Private charity fails always when 
it is needed most. People make the trouble and poverty of 
others their pleasure. They are strong on investigation 
and patronizing, and weak on relief. With them formalism 
is the soul of function and the functions of organized char- 
ity are practically limited to the distribution of advice and 
statistics. Charity, like religion and law and politics, is 
criminally over-organized. If only the common law were 
adjusted to modern conditions, the fight for socialism 
and other fallacious political remedies for social inequality 
would be unnecessary. 

Victor. But aren't you talking like a socialist? 

Senator Morse. No. Within my experience a native 
American party sprang into existence from activities on 
the part of foreigners who attempted to influence our poli- 
cies. The present activity of money in politics is, as I 
now see it, an alien influence. I believe in the right of 
private property for the blessings it assures to humanity, 
r believe in the protection of property clause in the Consti- 
tution of the United States, and in the power of the Su- 
preme Court to enforce it — but if the common law is not 
changed so as to limit the power of money in our civiliza- 
tion, the natural forces will continue to work which have 
already made that great tribunal — which must always be 
political — the ally, in a moderate degree, of concentrated 
capital — and will bring about a concentration hostile to 
American institutions — and make necessary a new strug- 
gle for individual rights and common humanity. Where 
else on earth was mere money ever allowed to dominate 
national aspirations? 

Victor. Socialism would remove the spur to human 
effort, wouldn't it? 

Senator Morse. I don't advocate socialism, but I do 
say that big money is not the only spur to work — and it's 
just the wrong kind of incentive. We'd better be without it 
anyway — when it leaves the greater part of humanity flat 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 173 

on its back working on a shoestring as capital and worth- 
less as creators and as customers. Our thriftiest are 
unfortunately, not our best but our most recreant to prog- 
ress. The American, of all men, should be not the victim 
of our vast material resources but the master. Many 
afflicted Americans hesitate to proclaim themselves social- 
ists because they are just a little bit snobs. 

Victor. I suppose it takes experience to realize that. 
Really money makes written constitutions and blocks the 
evolution of the law, doesn't it? Where will it end? Eh I 

Senator Morse. There can be but one end to a genera- 
tion that esteems an occupation not for its usefulness but 
for the mere result of getting money. Manhood now waits 
not upon nature but upon high finance and already the 
socially honest have ceased to reproduce. 

Victor. Yet how many imagine it I 

Senator Morse. The mental disease of the ruling 
classes is lack of imagination. Nature abhors a vacuum. 

Victor. It really doesn't seem to occur to them that 
others have to live. Nature abhors a hog! 

Senator Morse. A recognition of their trusteeship by 
the holders of surplus wealth is all that will prevent the 
people from setting up a common trusteeship — which is 
socialism. Character in a nation is its salvation, but it is 
a plant that grows only when cultivated and trained. 
Neither the current biological orthodoxy based on unkind- 
ness nor the current religion based upon superstition can 
have entered into the nurture. A leadership resting upon 
past national character may be maintained only as that 
character is maintained. To hold their leadership, the pos- 
sessors of property must dissolve the conspiracy against 
evolution which sustains the pinnacled civilization of the 
sated few. The law of property and marriage should cease 
to do service for the children of the apes. Evolution that 
depends on devolution will produce not the natural selec- 
tion and survival of the fit, but those cataclysms whidi, 
ever overturning society, hurl back progress and bring the 



174 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

least useful elements constantly to the top. So with men, so 
with nations. First-rate power must be maintained not by a 
freemasonry of greed but by deserving it of our fellow men. 

Victor. Two hundred million dollars will help three 
hundred thousand girls and boys a year to a life of broader 
usefulness. A sprinkling of hopeful youth in every city 
block or every village will change the whole community 
and plant culture and ambition in the average American 
home! Their leaven, too, will not only cut the nonsense 
out, but will, in a natural manner, lessen the years wasted 
in American education, I'll bet. Oaste, in America, puts 
the age of mental development back four years. There is 
no crime but ignorance. There should be no punishment 
but light. A perfect educational system will produce a 
perfect civilization! Without it fine souls succumb to 
their surroundings. I'm for that proposition. I'm through 
being a money holder. I'm going to be a man. ' 

Senator Morse. Better than great wealth is content- 
ment with little. So with men, so with nations. 
[Enter Bullard from Court Room.l 

Victor. Can't the Court be made to change its views? 

Senator Morse. Well, there's one sentence that gives 
hope. One day, in a big case, in which Bullard stubbed 
his toe, the Court said: "There is a potency in numbers, 
when combined, which the law cannot overlook." It meant 
not men but dollars. If that line could be worked out, we 
might attain the rights of man. If it isn't, vices licensed 
for public revenue will soon be levying all the taxes them- 
selves. They evade theirs now and thrive on what others 
pay to care for their victims. 

Victor. [Noting the approach of Bullard, and speak- 
ing in a low tone to Senator Morse, hut with resolution.] 
I pity Bullard's toes. I'm done with money ; I'm for men. 

Bullard. [Who has heard Victor^s last words.] Hello, 
Victor. I've got some money, and it makes me feel com- 
fortable, but not unmanly. "A man's a man for a' that." 

Victor. I don't want the handicap. Money isn't 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 175 

BULLARD. I know, but if you are otherwise happy, it 
comes in handy. Those I deal with are eager to get it. 

[ViCTOE goes up to Bullabd, puts his right hand on 
Bullard's left shoulder, and looks into his eyes.] 

Victor. Do you know, Mr. Bullard, what has caused 
me more thought than anything else in my life? 
Bullard. I can't imagine. 

Victor. It was hearing Mary Flint talk that night 
about those hundred thousand children. We rich are 
staunch for the church, and wish God to be on our side, 
without admitting the necessity of being on His. And we 
cherish the idea of a hereafter; it satisfies both our require- 
ments that the poor shall be kept in fear and our notion of 
a place fit for our own habitation and a new escape from 
the realities of life in the life to come after the enjoyments 
we have had in this. What the poor slavishly hope for in 
the world to come, the initiated aim to win by their money 
in the earthly life. It's a mean work, this promising the 
poor heaven to delude them into accepting hell on earth 
and arguing upon them at once the will to believe and the 
willingness to live as cravens— even to die like galley 
slaves, in battle, killing their fellow men. Why, the church- 
iest of churches actually prays for pay— sells poor people 
passes for their souls to Heaven— while it is as impotent 
as the other traders in divinity to free them from the saloon 
hell and the other hells on earth. Well, there is no greater 
fool than the dupe of his own deception. / have been 
taught, fortunately, through the inspiration of a pure wom- 
an, to know my own soul and to recognize other people's. 
I want to go to" Heaven, if there is such a place, but I want 
to go without fearing to meet any human being face to face. 
It's getting hard enough to do that on earth. 

Bullard. Heaven doesn't enter my calculation. There 

may not be n 

Victor. Well, it has entered into mine, and I know a 



176 THE WASTREL BOARD, 

way to bring a little of it down here on earth, and make 
sure of it — for myself and others. The churches don't ! If 
our hest people do not soon get down to earth and make 
their stand in the people's theatre, the stock of the Puri- 
tans might just as well die. 

BuLLAED. Take care of yourself. No more is required 
of you. The stronghold of cant and snobocracy is the mob ! 

Victor. If you hadn't done that — a wonderful man like 
you? If you had continued and become a minister to hu- 
man ills, what might you not have done ! You might even 
have created the twilight sleep and eased the pain with 
which the earth is replenished! You might have created 
some of the things that make nations leaders of the world's 
culture and the means of well-being common possessions. 
But now you lead in a meanness that can have no other 
end than the devastation of the world. I have been led 

astray 7 have been made unwittingly a partner in 

the alliance between finance and religion, which keeps the 
poor out of the Kingdom here and the rich out of the 
Kingdom hereafter, and makes the church merely a gate- 
way to worldly success. If we are ever to live in eternity, 
we've got to hegin here ! I'd like to spend a short time in 
hell just to watch our best people enjoying their holy fire 
together apart from the rest. The law of man, in protect- 
ing gifts of enormous fortunes after death, sets aside the 
law of nature and the law of God, and leads God knows 
where! When a man ceases to stand on his own feet and 
think as a human being with a soul, he's a danger to the 
human race. I'm going to drop this religion of money and 
the religion of fear and take up the religion of life. There 
is no God but man — no religion but humanity! There is 
that in the least of mortals which is God ! 

[BuLLARD grasps Victor's shoulder and JooTcs into 
his eyes as if to present to Victor a mirror in 
which to read the answer to his question.] 

BuLLARD. Don't you realize that if you'd hand untold 
wealth to those nature didn't intend it for, who weren't 



THE WASTREL HOARD. Ill 

born to money, with the inherited tradition of being close, 
they'd get rid of the last nickel? Fate hits Unitarians, too ! 
Victor. No! I believe there's a normal amount nat- 
ural to every one and that humanity won't be normal until, 
to supplant its devouring egoism, a process of automatic 
adjustment is invoked. Sheltered lives and misery mark the 
decay civilization and shut God and Heaven entirely out ! 
BuLLARD. Well, this is the place, all right, for you to 
make sure of Heaven. You won't go to Heaven very soon, 
you'll be here a long time. It'll be all right. [Victor 
walks away. Bullard looks after him and says, half to 
himself.] You can't manufacture men — and you can't kill 
a sucker! [Bullard goes to the telegraph office, writes 
out a cable, hands it to a hoy, then goes into the Court 
Room.] 

Sir Richard. [Coming out of the Court Room.] I am 
about to announce the convening of the court. 
Senator Morse. Veuy well, Sir Richard. 

[Sir Richard signals attendant, who rings a hell.] 
Sir Richard. I observe we are all here. 

[Gulp appears and goes to give orders to attendants 

and assistants. Sir Richard goes into Court 

Room, leaving Three Judges with the Senator. 

Sir Richard ascends the bench. Bullard goes up 

to the bench. Sir Richard bends over to speak to 

him and both remain engrossed in their own 

conversation until after the other Judges enter 

the Court Room. Victor paces up and down the 

stage until his attention is attracted by Mary's 

entrance. Senator Morse turns to the Three 

Judges.] 

Senator Morse. Each of you has confided to me that 

he has made a conquest of the most charming of American 

women. [The Three Judges measure one another.] I 

presume it would not be indelicate, now that you have 

gone so far, for each to set forth the basis of his boast. 

Ledoux. My taste could not be disputed ! 



178 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

LiEBiG VON Speidel. Though in attractiveness excelled ! 
In meinen augen hat sie auch lesen konnen! 

Pskov. Eyes — may be more — ivicked — than — egotism ! 

Senator Moese. You are all praising — not the lady — 
but yourselves I 

Ledoux. Eh Men! La helle americaine! Madame 
Butterfly en personnel 

[The others gape at him.] 

Senator Morse. [To Liebig von Speidel.] And you? 

LiEBiG VON Speidel. [Looking with astonishment at 
Ledoux.] Alsol Ehenfals! Ich meine! Die hat! — auch 
meine freundin hat — hei uns — "als gast" — uniihertrefjlich 
als Butterfly gesungen! Fraillein / 

Pskov. [Looking from Ledoux to Liebig von Speidel.] 
Do both the gentlemen mean Mademoiselle — das heriihmte 
Fraillein — Gospozha — Miss Mary Flint? 

Ledoux. Who the devil is it that one deceives here I 

Senator Morse. Somebody's been wronged. Is this 
woman an American? 

Liebig von Speidel. Absolutely. 

Ledoux. Incontestably. 

Pskov. Surely. 

Senator Morse. An opera singer? 

Ledoux. Precisely ! 

Liebig von Speidel. Ja! J a! 

Pskov. Da! Da! 

Senator Morse. And she has preached a world democ- 
racy to you? 

Liebig von Speidel. Like a crank. 

Pskov. Always. Cosmocracy — cosmic anarchy! 

Ledoux. Such eloquence! 

Senator Morse. And she has deceived each of you ? 

Ledoux. That's evident. 

Senator Morse. One Dido for three ! 

Liebig von Speidel. Confidence misplaced ! 

Pskov. It is foolish to trust a woman ! 



TSE WA8TREL HOARD. 1T9 



Lbdoux. One could not deny that. Even she ! 

[Enter Mary. Gulp at the same time, coming out 
of Court Room, stops to listen.] 

Mary. [With consciously fine sarcasm.] Gentlemen! 
Gallants, but hardly gallant! [Lowering her voice almost 
as if talking to herself and brooding over her injury.] 
Liars, all of you ! There's not one of you that didn't offer 
to show me rapid success by the easiest way, but I didn't 
even understand your meaning. 

Ledoux. I have been misunderstood. I merely said that 
Mademoiselle is the most — charming of her sex— and— the 
most — correct. 

LiEBiG VON Speidel. The most — ^beautiful. 

Pskov. And the greatest — artiste. 

[Mary, as if challenged out of silence, speaks up, 
hut still in a low tone, and with a rapid-fire dec- 
lamation that gives the impression of a 7naga- 
sine gun with a Maxim silencer.] 

Mary. And you all of you pretended to relations with 
a money-power that controls music in America. But I 
have defied you — charlatans and sham diplomats — your 
cliques and your claques, and I have sung to the common 
people of Europe. You don't represent them. Without 
respect for woman, no man ever can. They'd be ashamed 
of you— your weakness, your meanness, and your un- 
speakable arrogance — you who bid noble needs begone 
and debase the spirit of the world, and betray your coun- 
tries as you do your wives. Great! I guess not! In 
America, every decent man is as great as the greatest! 
But you! Here's Ledoux, a Frenchman — the dupe of his 
worst enemy. 

Ledoux. Senator, I must stand here and listen to 
this? We, three friends of the United States ? 

Senator Morse. [Not without courtesy.] I guess 
you would better. It's coming to you. The three real 



180 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

friends of the United States, I guess, are the Atlantic 
Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, and the little strip of water 
that joins them. Go on Mary. 

[The Three Diplomats appear to have difficulty 
in following this speech, ivhich is spoken veri/ 
swiftly hy Mary, with evident pleasure at their 
confusion. ] 

Mary. Why, the French people contributed twenty- 
two thousand lives in an attempt to build the Pacific 
Canal and two hundred and sixty million dollars. Two 
out of every three men succumbed to the yellow fever, yet 
no Frenchman ever flinched. Eight hundred thousand 
Frenchmen subscribed to build the Canal and despite the 
loss of every franc invested, despite the proof of graft and 
waste, the people were anxious to go on. The American 
people took up the burden and paid forty million dollars 
for the chance, of which, through the villainy of your kind, 
no French peasant ever received a cent, and they took 
Panama from Colombia in trust for humanity. There 
could be no other justification. They wiped out the yel- 
low fever and the yellow streak, and spent four hundred 
million dollars without a suspicion of inefficiency or graft. 
They not only laid forever the ghost of socialism that 
frightens us from public management of public work, free 
from the terrible toll of private promotion and finance, 
but they made the Pacific Canal an arm of the open sea. 
Let the people of the Western World unite to keep it open 
and free for all time against a yellow peril from within or 
without, an Eastern yellow peril with its deeper yellow 
Western barbarian leader, a bond of alliance against all 
who would make trouble between nations and destroy 
peace. Go, convene your tribunal, but I warn you that 
the American people for one will not only not accept your 
finding in favor of the foreign-owned railroads of the 
United States, but on the model of this trusteeship of an 
international utility will take over every public utility, 



TEE WASTREL EOARD. 181 

national, State and municipal. If you persist, you wil] 
open their eyes to the real money trust and to the fact that 
graft is an international, as well as a national, institu- 
tion. And they will see in you not diplomats, but blind 
prophets leading their own people to destruction, and 
will start an investigation that will unite the peoples 
of civilization and placing the uplifting force of the Amer- 
ican idea under every throne on earth, shake the private 
governments and financial strongholds of the world to their 
very foundations. And the oligarchs will be forced to lead 
the popular movement. All nations worthy to live will 
pledge the world that not for gold, a little more or less, 
will they open the veins of civilization and bleed humanity 
white. Come on, Victor, let the puppets of the old Spanish 
system go through their motions. A Peace Tribunal under 
imps of darkness, pawns of bond brokers, master-minds of 
international murder, coiners of blood! American rail- 
roads, managed in peace and war, in the interest of syndi- 
cated governments of Europe! A Peace PaJace made the 
nest of war ! The madness of man marring the benevolent 
purposes of God I Indignation at your plot to divert one 
public waterway to private use will inspire a purpose to 
make the open sea the fair domain of the world's peace 
and this Palace the Court of International Justice, with 
Neptune's trident as its sword, international ships as its 
bailiffs, the greater love as its law-book, and humanity as 
its justice-seat. 

[CuLP goes to the telegraph office unnoticed hy 
the group, while Mary is talking. Maky and 
Victor go out at the left. Mary drops a hand- 
kerchief as she goes out. As she drops it, she 
gives a significant look toward the Court Room 
and smiles.] 

LiBBiG VON Speidel. What did she say? 
Pskov. Didn't you understand? 



182 THE WASTREL HOARD, 

LiEBiG VON Speidel. I undepstood the words — but the 

ideas 

Lbdoux. The ideas were strange to you! 

Pskov. I must ask more! Where is this BuUard? 

Lbdoux. She talked so fast. 

LiEBiG von Speidel. I think she praised us. 

Pskov. / don't think so. 

Lbdoux. Nor I ! 

[Judges go into the Court Room. Victor and Mart 
go out through the door. Senator Morse waits, 
deep in thought, then goes into the Court Room. 
Bullard approaches him and leads him down 
apart from the Others.] 

Bullard. [Anxiously.] How did it go? It will be all 
right, I guess. Yes? 

Senator Morse. [Coldly, and turning to go into the 
Court Room.] You were certainly right. They did talk 
about themselves! "America, with all thy imperfections, 
I love thee still !" 

[Sib Richard ascends the bench and raps with 
gavel. Gulp stops at counter and is handed, hy 
an Assistant, Bullabd^s cable. He reads it 
hurriedly, and then makes a copy, which he folds 
and thrusts into his pocket.] 

Sir Richabd. The Tribunal for the determination of 
the dispute between the United States of America and the 
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and so 
forth, over the right of the United States to exempt its 
own coastwise vessels from tolls charged to the ships of 
other nations, is now in session. The Secretary will read 
the agreement between the nations for the submission of 
the controversy. 

[As Sib Richabd finishes his speech the bell in the 
tower of the Palace of Peace sounds the first 
stroke of twelve. A clerk who is invisible at 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 183 

the side of the Court Room reads. During read- 
ing by Clerk_, the action in the Ante-Chamher 
proceeds. Mary is soon visible in the telegraph 
office writing cables.] 

Clerk. The United States of America and His Majes- 
ty, George the Fifth, King of the United Kingdom of 
Great Britain and Ireland, Emperor of India, hereby 
agree to submit to arbitration by the International Court 
of Arbitration to be convened at the Palace of Peace at 
The Hague on the 28th day of June, 1914, all questions 
arising out of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty now in force 
between the signatory powers with respect to the right of 
the United States of America to charge to the ships of the 
other nations a higher rate of tolls than is charged to the 
vessels flying the flag of the United States of America for 
the use of and passage through the Pacific Canal. 

It is further agreed that the United States of America 
and His Majesty, George the Fifth, King of the United 
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Emperor of India, 
may each choose two members of the Court of Arbitra- 
tion as constituted for the trial of this case from among 
the standing members heretofore appointed by the powers 
signatory to the General Arbitration Treaty and that 
those four members may choose a fifth member. It is 
agreed that the Court shall hear argument and take evi- 
dence on behalf of the contending parties, and that the 
award shall be final and binding upon the parties, 

[Enter Victor. Approaches Culp. Writes two 
cables, takes out bank notes.] 

ViOTOR. Will you please rush these. We're sailing to- 
morrow. 

Culp. Sure. 

Victor. Keep it secret. Please accept this. 



184 TEE WASTREL HOARD. 

[Exit Victor hurriedly, giving Gulp no chance to 
return hank notes.] 

Gulp. Money! Always money! Its usual speech! 
Hello ! — and — Goodbye ! 

[Enter Mary hy telegraph office door, two cables in 
one hand and a banknote in the other. Grabs him 
and gives him a kiss on each cheek.] 

Mary. The kisses are for your children. This — 
[Hands him banknote] — is for your wife. [Hands him ca- 
ble.] This is for the American people and their fellow 
countrymen throughout the world. This will hold the 
hold-up for awhile. Bullard has forced my hand, but I'll 
meet his move and beat him. [Hands him another cable.] 
This is for a friend of ours. 

Gulp. God bless you, my girl. You're a wonder. I'll 
never forget you. 

Mary. You're a trump. The messages? Are they all 
right? 

Gulp. I don't know what they are, but they're all 
right. [Draws copy of Bullard^s cable from his pocket, 
hands it to Mary and says] Read this at your leisure. 
[Mary hurriedly takes the paper and thrusts it into her 
corsage.] 

Mary. Here's for yourself. [Kisses him on the fore- 
head.] Good-bye, Gulp! Money has had its say, but now 
we'll hear the other side. 

Gulp. Good-bye, Miss. [Wiping away a tear.] Good- 
bye. No. Tot Weersiens! 

[Mary exits as Victor rushes in, looks around, and 
not seeing Mary^ runs out again. Gulp rouses 
himself out of a revery as the reading within con- 
tinues in a monotone. Gulp rubs his eyes and 
reads the message. He directs his reading to a 
red-cheeked boy, who has but a dim idea of what 
he is saying.] 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 185 

Department of State, 
Washington, D. C, U. S. A., 
Hon. John Morse, June 28, 1914. 

Palace of Peace, 

The Hague, Holland. 
Negotiations pending. Settlement dispute imminent. 
Request immediate suspension proceedings Tribunal and 
adjournment to six months from date. Return to Wash- 
ington by Noordam, leaving Rotterdam tomorrow morning, 
awaiting confirmation by wireless on shipboard. Assume 
attitude of ignorance, merely announcing to Tribunal 
probable concession of dispute by United States. 

Russell Turner, 
Acting Secretary of State. 

Gulp. Well, Pll be damned! 

[Pretends to receive message from instrument. 
Unfolds second cable and reads.] 

The Hague, 
Robert Thorburn, June 28, 1914. 

35 Wall Street, New York. 
Execute deed of trust, returning forthwith, particu- 
lars from steamer. 

Gulp. What's this : 

[Gulp jncks up cable, left by Bullard, compares 
it with foregoing, and reads.] 

The Hague, Holland, 

June 28, 1914. 
Winmer, New York. 

Youthful suffering acute attack dementia altruistica 
Americana — proposes deed of gift removing entire hold- 
ings from control — See Thorburn — Hold up deed — Have 
commitment papers ready and prepare Sheriff's Jury to 
examine into sanity. 

Gulp. Well, I'll be damned! Furor egoisticus teuton- 
icus. 



186 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

[Calls Page. Writes out pretended incoming mes- 
sage. Directs him to hand it to Senator Morse. 
Reads other cablegram.] 

The Hague, Holland, 
Miss Alice Morse,, June 28, 1914. 

987 Fifth Avenue, 
New York City. 
Returning with all possible speed. Something very 
important to ask you. Hope you won't sail until I see 
you. Will wireless from ship. Love to your mother. 

Victor Chance. 
Well, ril he damned!! 

[Boy hands cablegram to Senator Morse, who rises, 
puts on his glasses, reads and reads again.] 

Senator Morse. [Turning to Sir Richard.] I have 
instructions from my government. 

[CuLP, taking last cable, goes through same busi- 
ness as Senator Morse, and reads.] 

The Hague, Holland, 
Russell Turner, June 28, 1914. 

Congress Hall, 

Washington, D. C. 
Suspend State Department cables and stand pat until 

further from me 

[CuLP stops reading.] 

Senator Morse. If the Honorable Court please, I am 
directed by my government to request an adjournment 
of this Tribunal to six months from date, to announce the 
probable concession of the matters in dispute by the United 
States, and to return to my country without delay. 

[This announcement is followed by a dead silence.] 

CuLP. [Who has listened, continues reading.] Re- 
turning from Cherbourg with little stranger. Meet us at 
steamer. Mary. 

[CuLP speaks.] Well, Pll be damned!!! 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 187 

[Gulp holds the cablegram in his left hand, pauses 
a moment in thought, raises his right hand to his 
right temple, as if to scratch his head, and speaks.] 
Gulp. I've done it. ''Sic semper tyrannise 

[Gulp turns to the door of his private office and 
then with a last look of apprehension, mixed with 
delight, toicard the Court Room. Those in the 
Court Room commence to stir. Bullard is the 
most excited. He comes, before the others, to the 
door leading out of the Court Room, looks about, 
raises his hand to his chin and strides forward 
lost in thought. CuhF, unseen, catches sight of 
Bullard, jmshes open the door of his private 
office, throws his head back and laughs. Bul- 
lard hears him, goes up to Gulp and addresses 
him in a challenging manner.] 
Bullard. The Director of Posts and Telegraphs is a 

friend of mine — and 

Gulp. :N'ow, doesn't that beat— the Dutch ! Bullard ! 
"Now is the time to undeceive Omichund." Although we 
Dutch aim to be truly cosmopolitan, we have our own 
interests in this country, as your interests have reason to 
know. / am the Director of Posts and Telegraphs. What 
is the use of being somebody's door and window unless you 
can look out for yourself. That question applies to us as 
just as to the United States. The moment the home of 
American principles in Europe is violated, they will no 
longer be safe in your remotest interior. This sanctuary 
is your outpost, your citadel, and your Thermopylae; with 
us you must fight it out on this line if freedom is to sur- 
vive. The situation in Europe six months from now will 
be far different from what it is to-day. That is always 
true. My T\are just reports the Austrian Grown Prince 
shot dead in Serbia! Our nations, you see, must always 
be ready now for a "shot heard 'round the world" and 
be prepared against the "times that try men's souls!" 
Nothing personal, Mr.— Bullock— [Loofcm^r at card BuL- 



188 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

LARD had given him, and smiling innocently] — Bullardr— 
Pardon me! 

BuLLABD. It'll be all right. 

Gulp. It'll be all right, all right ! 

[Gulp goes into the private office leaving Bullard 
bewildered. Bullard catches sight of the hand- 
kerchief which Mary dropped — appears interest- 
ed — and goes to pick it up. He sniffs the perfume, 
pauses, examines the initial, thinks, and, suddenly 
staggers, between the doubt and dismay of a great 
discovery.] 



Gurtain. 



ACT V. 



Before the curtain goes up, the Orchestba plays selections 
from Carmen, with emphasis upon and recurrence to 
the hit from the song at "The Smugglers' Camp," sung 
hy Mary, and selections from Offenbach's *'Orpheus," 
with emphasis upon the theme suggestive of "Home, 
Sweet Home." 



Kargntto. ^ ^ ''j ^ 

VioLSolo. J \.i^ti> i. i\ = 



Vni 




(f\ ^^i^rrf^-^H^^n^M i'^U-i^.i i 




ACT V. 

Library of the residence of Senator Mouse, in Neic York 
City, ten minutes after eleven on the morning of the 
sixth day after the close of Act IV. 

Books in cases on right and left. Desk at right with elec- 
tric light upon it. Upright piano against wall at left. 
Doors left and right; large hay window at hack, the 
curtain of which is drawn to exclude the sun. The icin- 
dow is open. An electric fan, resting upon the piano, is 
in operation. The sounds of vehicular traffic without 
are more audihle than in the first act. At hack of stage, 
in the hay windoio, is a cahinet phonograph. On the 
desk is a telephone and heside it a small brass clock. 
In left hack corner, facing audience, is a chime clock, 
resting on the floor. Photographs, including that of 
Victor, Russell Turner, Mary, Senator Morse, and 
Mrs. Morse. Victor^s is on piano. Beside it is a large, 
full figure oil painting, in the style of thirty years he- 
fore, of a beautiful girl of tioenty, in stage costume, 
suggesting the ivell-known painting of Lotta Faust. 
American flags are conspicuous in the temporary decO' 
ration for the Fourth of July. On the tvalls are pictures 
of Washington, Hamilton, Marshall, Lincoln, Grant, 
Evarts, and, Roosevelt. There are group pictures of the 
Bench of the United States Supreme Court and of the 
NeiD York Court of Appeals. There is also the old print 
of Webster addressing the United States Senate. 

Seated at piano, is Alice Morse. As curtain rises, she 
looks at ViCTOR^s picture, and commences singing 
"Because." She is nervous. 



L92 



TEE WASTREL BOARD. 



BECAUSE 

SONG 



Vords by * Pr«ort» ««rd« «aA 




IT iff /o7 



*Viid liold iny hand and Itfl mine eyes a - bovc,. 

poir dc te re • voir a'e - te - tr. Si 



der aoiM of hope and joy I 

tw - tneiU tera toi jc tends tes bras . 




oppassioTiafo 




l»ra|r Hl« love may make our love 4k • vine* . 




Reprinted by permission of Chappell & Co., Ltd., 

41 East 34th Street, New York. 

Copyright, 1902, by Chappell & Co., Ltd. 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 193 

[James enters door at right. Alice stops singing. 
James holds out card tray. Alice does not look 
at the card.] 
Alice. Tell the lady I am out of town and will not 
return for a week. 

James. Very good, Miss. 

[Alice continues playing and singing. The tele- 
phone rings. Alice looks at the instrument, 
walks over to the desk, sits in desk chair, and 
looks at the clock. It is ten after eleven. She 
hesitates, hut finally takes the receiver of, hut 
puts it hack immediately. She rings the huzzer at 
side of desk.] 

Katy. [Enters.] Yes, Miss! 

Alice. Answer the telephone and repeat the name. 

[Katy takes off receiver, hesitates, clears her throat 
and ansivers.] 

Katy. Hello. Yes, this is Senator Morse's house. 

Alice. Ask now who it is. 

Katy. Who is this, please? You'd like to speak to 
Miss Morse? 

Alice. Is it a man? [Katy shakes head in negative.] 
Then say you didn't catch the name. 

Katy. I didn't catch the name. 

Alice. What did she say? 

Katy. She said she didn't give her name. She says 
she said she wanted to speak to Miss Morse. 

Alice. Tell her Miss Morse is out of town ; you don't 
know when she'll he back ; probably not for a week. 

Katy. Miss Morse is out of town. We don't know 
when she'll be back, probably not for a week. She wants 
to know where. 

Alice. Ask for her name. No. Tell her you don't 
know. 

Katy. We don't know. 



194 TEE WASTREL HOARD. 

Alice. That's all, Katy. If a lady wants me, I'm out. 

Katy. The roses have come, Miss. 

Alice. Please arrange them for me to-day and send 
yesterday's to the hospital, as usual. 

Katy. Yes, Miss. 

Alice. [Turning to a number of new hooks on the ta- 
ble.] And have these books, and yesterday's, and to-mor- 
row's, sent to the Junior League. 

Katy. [Gathering up the hooks.] Very good, Miss. 

[Exit Katy.] 

Alice. [Looking at the photograph of Victor.] Oh, 
dear ! 

[Alice takes the telephone instrument with the left 
hand, reaches for the desk clock with the right 
hand, and marks of i^teriods of ten minutes. 
Pushes clock away and takes off receiver.] 

Alice. Hello, operator — Give me 6000 Chelsea — 
They're busy? — Well, try to get them. [Puts up receiver, 
reflects a moment, reaches for the telephone directory, finds 
a numher, and takes off the receiver.] Give me 4900 Broad 
— The other number is still busy? — All right, get either 
number — Hello, French Line? — Has the Kochambeau 
docked yet?— Call up Chelsea 6000?— I did, but the line 
was busy — Ten minutes ago? 

[The chimes strike once for the quarter hour.] 

How long w^ill it take for passengers to get away? — Oh, 
the Custom House? — 1642 Broad — Thank you. Good-bye. 
[Presses down holder with right hand, then signals for the 
operator.] Give me 1642 Broad — Custom House? — How 
long will it take passengers to get away from the Rocham- 
beau? — Yes, I'll wait — Hello, Inspectors' Department? 
[The desk clock strikes once for the quarter hour.] How 
long will it take passengers to get away from the Rocham- 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 195 

beau? — It depends upon what they have? — If it was only 
a diamond ring? — Might never get away I — No, he wouldn't 
smuggle. He's rich — Twenty minutes? The holiday de- 
lays? [The clock in the room above strikes once.] Thank 
you very much. Good-bye. [Puts down receiver and 
listens. The elevator is heard ascending. Goes over to 
piano, takes down Victor^s picture, looks at it and puts it 
back quietly. Looking at Victor^s picture.] Oh, dear! 

[E7iter Mrs. Morse from door at left. The lou4 
chime in the hall beloiv is heard as the door opcm. 
Mrs. Morse^ like most women of her years, has 
become younger and more modern in the period 
that has elapsed since the close of Act L] 

Mrs. Morse. [Mrs. Morse and Alice embrace.] Oh, 
such a crush ! ! ! Yes, father's all right. He was surprised 
you didn't come to meet him. 

Alice. I thought I'd be in the way, and he'd be home 
so soon. 

Mrs. Morse. But he didn't come with me. The Secre- 
tary of State took him off to the Metropolitan Club for a 
conference. There's some mystery about this Hague busi- 
ness. We are to receive all kinds of visitors without ques- 
tion, hold them here, and telephone him. I've given orders 
that the most questionable characters be sent up here, un- 
announced, and kept here Yes — and no questions 

asked. 

Alice. [Frowns.] I hope he'll come home. 

Mrs. Morse. Naturally, my dear. But he may go to 
Washington. 

Alice. He mustn't, without seeing me. 

Mrs. Morse. You could go to the Club to meet him. 
Shall I call up and ask him to let you know when? 

Alice. No, tell him to come here first on his way. He 
mustn't go. 

Mrs. Morse. But that may be impossible. You can 
talk to him over the telephone. 



196 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Alice. That won't do. I wish to ask his advice. I can't 
say it over the telephone. 

Mrs. Morse. Isn't my advice sufficient? What can 
it be? 

Alice. I want you both at once. — To ask whether I 
may [Alice hesitates.'] 

Mrs. Morse. May what? 

Alice. Consent. 

Mrs. Morse. To what? 

Alice. To be married. 

Mrs. Morse. You wicked child! Who has asked you 
that? And you've told me nothing. 

Alice. Nobody has asked me. 

Mrs. Morse. Then you needn't be in such a hurry. Do 
you expect anybody to ask you? 

Alice. I don't know. Look at this. [Hands Mrs. Morse 
cablegram.] 

Mrs. Morse. Why, it's a week old. Why didn't you 
tell me? "Love to your mother!" Huh! 

Alice. You were away. It seemed a flimsy ground ' or 
writing. Do people ever forge cablegrams? 

Mrs. Morse. It's never absolutely safe to rely upon 
them. But there could be no motive in this. 

Alice. But the whole Hague business is a mystery. 
What was Victor doing at The Hague? 

Mrs. Morse. Hasn't he written you regularly? 

Alice. Yes, but it was mostly about Mary. 

Mrs. Morse. Well, he was seeing Mary. She has writ- 
ten you frequently. 

Alice. I believe I shall never marry. 

Mrs. Morse. Of course not. Never, until the right man 
comes. 

Alice. I wish to be free, to keep my own individuality, 
to be able to do something. The kind of men I know 
"wouldn't permit that. 

Mrs. Morse. There may be a kind that would. Every 
one of them will promise to. 



TEE WASTREL HOARD. 197 

Alice. A man's promise ! 

Mrs. Mobse. You are not jealous, are you? You do 
not distrust Victor? 

Alice. A woman's jealousy never comes from dis- 
trust of the man. 

Mrs. Morse. Indeed! 

Alice. Distrust destroys the love jealousy is based on. 

Mrs. Morse. Not certainty as to a man I 

Alice. No. Women really know nothing about men. 
But women do know women. And that Is the reason in 
a woman's jealousy. 

Mrs. Morse. As a matter of fact, whether it must be 
so or not, the sexes know very little about one another. 
You need have no fear concerning Victor. 

Alice. I want to be sure. There is only one way and that 
is to marry a man who has work to do, a purpose in life. 

Mrs. Morse. Victor has his property to look after. 

Alice. What a purpose! I don't see how any true 
woman's affection for a merely rich man can overcome her 
feeling of anger and contempt. They might be useful, but 
they refuse. 

Mrs. Morse. Victor's grand-parents made their way to 
wealth from abject poverty. You never can tell when old 
family traits will show themselves again. At all events, 
people who insist on marrying one another just for them- 
selves usually wake up to find in one another hosts of dis- 
agreeable ancestors. If Victor doesn't develop the real man 
and throw off the incubus of money, I haven't judged him 
right. 

Alice. That's a hope it will take years to justify. 
Money is no guarantee of breed. It conceals the real marks 
pf gentle birth and calls for actual tests. 

Mrs. Morse. His mother was accused of marrying 
money. 

Alice. She didn't know ! She was a poor girl ! She 
was a singer ! 

Mrs. Morse. And she never forgot it. Thousands of 



198 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

poor girls were benefited by her charities — the sweetest 
"uses of adversity I" The mother was an admirable 
woman ! I have always admired Victor for being what he 
is with such a man for a father, 

Alice. Why didn't she divorce him? 

Mrs. Morse. She didn't believe in divorce. 

Alice. But she was not happy, and nobody spoke well 
of the man. ^ 

Mrs. Morse. There was, undoubtedly, a good reason 
for the disaster of their married life — which she knew. 
There always is a reason and love seldom remains blind 
long. 

Alice. She had everything except the one unpurchas- 
able thing. There you have it. If a woman must become, 
as most women must, what the man she marries makes 
her, she at least ought to use independent judgment in 
choosing the man. 

Mrs. Morse. I've studied Victor and I can see — I see 
nothing but good. I take the boy as I find him I 

Alice. He has not been tried. I want a man who has 
his bread and butter to look after 7iow. I'm tired to death 
of the routine of a rich girl's life — one round of formality 
and unreality — disgusting vanity and sickening deferences 
— and — riding to death one hobby after another, and, 
in search of novelty, touching here and there on the bor- 
derland of vice — and Oh I the wonderful force of girl- 
hood — before the harder nature has had time to set — all 
misdirected, all misspent ! I'll not stand with women whom 
fortune has made so complaisant at the wickedness and 
the social crime about them that they have lost the very 
power to blush. The desire to appear — to put on a false 
face before the painful realities of life — that characterized 
the years preceding the French Revolution, that has spread 
with our instantaneous communication from one end of 
the country to the other — together with sentimental self- 
suppression, has destroyed the self-sustaining self. When 
I contemplate the aristocratic leprosy that surrounds us 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 199 

and threatens to spread, I wish with all my heart I had 
been horn a working girl. See what deprivation did for 
Mary. All women ought to work, for their own sakes, as 
well as for other people's. Those who have ambitions 
haven't the wherewithal to support them, and those who 
have the wherewithal haven't ambitions w^orthy of sup- 
port. There's abundant work for Americans to do ! 

Mrs Morse Your father has always said that people 
with money and without brains believe that people with 
brains and without money were born to work for them. 

Alice. The world is supporting too many loafers of 
both sexes. We are like blind fish in a beautiful bowl ! 

Mrs. Morse. All women who haven't children ought to 
work — at something! 

Alice Bringing up children is work. A woman who 
contributes well-bred children to society has done about 
enough— judged by fair standards. The alternative ought 
to be wage-work. 

Mrs. Morse. [Half pleased, half flahhergasted, and as 
if not daring to encourage.] Don't be foolish, child. A 
working girl ! — to-day — and up at auction — to any bidder ! 
Why ! You are only a child. 

Alice. I've made up by observation for my lack of ex- 
perience. A new world-mind was horn to my generation. 
Society has been getting men and women into tasks that 
nature didn't intend for either. As a result the family 
wage, with the burden and the opportunity of earning it, 
has disappeared. I've observed that some women ennoble 
their men and that others reduce them to their worst. As 
we do unto our men, so do we unto ourselves. My man, if 
I marry, must always be his own best and always help me 
to be mine. And he must earn a family wage and feel, as / 
shall, what it means to me and to others— the importance 
not only of the money but what it means in welfare value 
for all wage-earners. Without such a feeling the great 
love that comes to the great poor, face to face with the 
great meaning of life, cannot exist. 



200 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Mrs. Morse. That's a pretty sentiment, but 

Alice. I'll not assert or concede that for one thing all 
else must be endured — the one thing in a woman which 
most men both deplore and desire. 

Mrs. Morse. Among well-bred people 

Alice. Where are they? Breeding, though proved to 
be the most important thing in modern times, is the least 
thought of. An ill-bred race 

Mrs. Morse. Alice! Have those — Mother Hubbard 
lectures taught you this? 

Alice. Conceived in selfish passion 

Mrs. Morse. Hush ! 

Alice. Spurred on by drink, then, unconscious 

Mrs. Morse. Child ! 

Alice. Or liquor-fanned lovers ! — ^vainly seeking satis- 
faction through indulgence of self — ! 

Mrs. Morse. Goodness ! [As if resolved to see the 

argument through.^ Victor no longer drinks. 

Alice. No real gentleman drinks now; soon no real 
man will; no American can be a true citizen without re- 
nouncing his personal liberty under His Alcoholic Maj- 
esty. What the world needs is a better balance of soul 
and body. Marriage isn't a thing to be romantic about; 

it lasts too long — and its effects ! That which is to 

come in the future, must be conceived rather in the soul 
than in the body. Inebriate conception 

Mrs. Morse. Goodness! 

Alice. Yes, goodness. The only key to happiness — for 
ourselves and others — is a life of service. Only the greater 
love can be "woman's whole existence." 

Mrs. Morse. Or man's, for that matter, I imagine. 

Alice. I have made up my mind. I shall not marry 
anyone who has money. It has come to this with women 
as with all other things in this country, that they go upon 
the auction block, are disposed of to the highest bidder, and 
become a chattel to a lord and master who has bought and 
paid for them. That is where political reform should be- 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 201 

gin, and where women should make their fight for equality. 
I shall insist upon partnership really equal. I have told 
Victor that. I have talked him to death on that subject. 

Mrs. Morse. If you really love a man, you'll never 
ask whether he has much or little. 

Alice. But that is just what I am doing. I want to 
marry Victor. I don't wish to add to the tragedies of those 
who have tried for love and failed. But what greater trag- 
edy is there on earth than an unhappy marriage? I — I 
am — afraid. 

Mrs. Morse. Of what? Woman's whims are certainly 
ruining this generation. 

Alice. That I shouldn't be able to hold him. It is not 
easy to combine self-realization and freedom with perma- 
nent loyalty and surrender. Don't you suppose the myriads 
of woman failures sought to make the right adjustment? 

Mrs. Morse. It is the man who seems the supremest 
egoist who most suffers for the want of the woman with 
whom he can abandon self in blended unity. If he suc- 
ceeds 

Alice. There must be no "if." I don't want a trial 
marriage. 

Mrs. Morse. My dear child, all marriages are trials. 
Remember that if men and women were faultless there 
wouldn't be any marriages. People don't love one another 
because they are perfect, but because they can understand 
and sympathize with one another's faults. But in the rich, 
absorbing, impersonal struggle, trials become joys. You 
should have more faith in Victor and in yourself. 

Alice. I'd like to. That's just what I wish. To me a 
woman's love means the one achievement in her life worth 
while. It comes but once. The woman's choice of the man 
should study his fitness to become the father of her chil- 
dren, to worship her as their mother, and to be tested by 
her and by them and be found always a man! I'd have 
Victor love me always as we love in dread of losing. That 
is to love wisely and well. But there are the facts. 



202 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Mrs. Morse. What facts? Victor loves you. 

Alice. That's the worst of it. I know he loves me, yet 
he has been chasing Mary all over Europe. 

Mrs. Morse. Better the fascination before than after 
marriage. Mary fascinates everybody. If men weren't 
susceptible, there would be no marriages. Victor is com- 
ing back to you. 

Alice. Because Mary doesn't want him. That's no 
satisfaction. To be happy in giving one's best without re- 
quital is a prodigy no human being ever accomplished. 
And suppose she should change her mind? 

Mrs. Morse. Have you known her to? 

Alice. Sixty times in one minute. Her fad 

Mrs. Morse. About trifles. That's temperament. She 
is the most steadfast of mortals — even in her whims — 
w^hich seem to have gripped you. And she is your friend. 

Alice. Friendship should not be strained; friends 
should be frank. 

Mrs. Morse. Mary is your friend ! 

Alice. And I am to keep Victor by her sufferance. She 

defies conventions I loathe people who always want 

something extra — just something that decent living and 
the common welfare can't afford. When I see the way per- 
fectly healthy people rely on automobiles, I wonder what 
legs were given for, and fear that evolution may take them 
away again. If nobody had surplus means to have them, 
common means of getting about and getting on would suffer 
less from thefts of public funds ! 

Mrs. Morse. Nonsense! For any distance, nowadays, 
it is either the limousine or flat-foot in the cattle cars. 
Transportation is the keystone of the arch of democracy 
but the arch of democracy is nowadays pretty much broken. 
Mary sees the times as they are, and governs herself ac- 
cordingly. As a result she is a success; she is fashion 
itself. I know now you are in love. You think everybody 
is in love with a man because you are. Mary loves Russell. 

Alice. She might have married him two years ago. 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 203 

I have secured a reminder for Victor. [Alice indicates the 
picture in htage costume.] 

Mrs. Morse. Who is that — not Mary? 

Alice. No. It is "Sweet Lily Earle" — just before she 
changed her mind and married Victor's father. 

Mrs. Morse. You are in love, rest assured of that. 

Alice. Is it selfish to save two people from foreordained 
miserv ? 



Mrs. Morse. [Putting her arms about Alice and kiss- 
ing her upon the forehead.] I suppose you are above such 
a thing as jealousy, too ! You may well be — and you may 
spare Victor the warning. Mary loves Russell, and Victor 
doesn't love Mary, and Russell does. 

Alice. He keeps writing every day, but does he ever 
hear from her? — Never! 

Mrs. Morse. Whenever he wishes now. Let us forget 
useless worriment. [Lightly.] By the way, I have a new 

record 

[Mrs. Morse goes to the cabinet, adjusts a record of 

a beautiful soprano voice singing, "Absent."] 
Sometimes, between long shadows on the grass, 
The little truant waves of sunlight pass. 
My eyes grow dim with tenderness, the while, 
Thinking I see thee — thinking 
I see thee smile ! 

And sometimes, in the twilight gloom, apart, 
The tall trees whisper, whisper heart to heart, 
From my fond lips the eager answers fall, 
Thinking I hear thee — thinking 
I hear thee call I 
[During this song Alice "becomes more and more absent 
and Mrs. Morse turns the record to play the song on tJw 
other side without awakening Alice from her revery. Dur- 
ing the playing of the second song, ''Forgotten/' the grip 
of Alice upon her theories of love and life yields to pal- 
pable lovesickness.] 



204 



THE WASTREL HOARD 



tbOKl WXTLaCBHCk 



FORGOTTEN 

(Orifinal Kty.Fi 



EOOBNE Cowus 




For.goUenyon?WeU,if for.get.ting Be thinking aU the day How the 




long hours drag since you left me_ (Days seem years with you a . way._) Or 




::C^n this be for. get-ting? Yet I have for.goUen, you say Or_ 



counting each moment with longing, Till the one when ["U see you a. gain. If 



this t)e for.get . ting.you're right, dear, And \ have for.got-ten you then. 




got. ten yon? Well, if for . get . ting Be readjng each face that I 




yours as you last looked at me . For. goLten you? Well, if for. get. ting B« , 



yearn, tng with all my heart. With a long, ing.half pain and half 




rapt, ure. For the time when we nev. er shall part. If the 

wild wish to see you and hear you. To be held in your arms a . 



B**"* f this be roiLgettiiig,yonVe right, dear. And I have fotLgoLien yon 



*"• For. got. tea, you sayl 

Copyright MDCCCXaV by Oliver Ditson Company. Inter- 
national Copyright Secured. Used by permission of 
Eugene Cowles and Oliver Ditson Company. 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 205' 

Alice. What a lovely voice. I don't recognize it. 

Mrs. Morse. You have heard it many times. 

Alice. Never. I should have recognized it again any 
time. We must buy some more. 

Mrs. Morse. You can't. 

Alice. Why? 

Mrs. Morse. There aren't any more. 

Alice. They'll never stop making new ones of that 
voice. [Absently.] The song — is — wonderful! 

Mrs. Morse. That was made especially. It was the 
only one made. No others will be made. 

Alice. How did you get it? 

Mrs. Morse. Russell gave it to me yesterday in Wash- 
ington. He is to be here today. He wished the record to 
be here. It is Mary's voice. 

Alice. I'm ashamed of myself. I wdsh Victor would 
come. 

Mrs. Morse. She never wrote to him or communicated 
with him while the other woman lived — not even when it 
was all over. But he understood — and he loved her all the 
more for it. We can have no love worth having withe ut 
these tests. I believe they will 

Alice. But I've no chance for a test, no basis for com- 
radeship, no chance for a man who needs anything. 

Mrs. Morse. If he loves you, he'll need you, and if he 
can't get you, he'll live in hell, and — [The elevator is heard 
ascending. Mrs. Morse pauses an instant, and both listen, 
as Mrs. Morse continues] — that's the severest test in life. 
And Mary has been gone — [Enter Mary from door at left, 
shahhily dressed. She wears a mantilla on her head and 
carries a Spanish fan. Her costume is piped here and there 
with red, white, and blue. There is a wide belt of grey 
cloth. The neck is quite open] — Why, you dear child! 

Alice. [In double surprise — that it isn't Victor — and 
that it is Mary.] Mary! 



206 TEE WASTREL HOARD. 

[The Three form a hugging group in the center of 
the stage. Mrs. Morse and Mary weep. Mary is 
quite overcome. After a moment j they separate.] 

Mrs, Morse. [As Mrs, Morse and Mary dry their 
eyes.] Why, Mary ! You are crying ! I guess / am, too ! 

Mary. / am not ashamed to cry over you! [Noticing 
that Alice has not shed tears.] Why, Alice, how strong 
you've grown ! Why, you're not crying ! 

Alice. [Concealing the rankle.] I don't want to. 

Mary. [Gently and not suspecting the cause.] Well, 
if you don't want to, you needn't. I hope you never will. 

Mrs. Morse. Mary, dear. What can I do — [Mary 
straightens and draws hack] — to show you how glad I am? 
[Mary is brimful of cheerfulness.] 

Mary. Oh! [Looking down at her costume.] This 
garb ! I had forgotten ! You may — find me a man. 

Mrs. Morse. A man I How do you mean? 

Mary. [Very seriously.] I'll take the one you find — 
[Very cheerfully] — if he asks me right. 

Mrs. Morse. One came over from Washington yester- 
day, was to have met Senator Morse, but said he'd meet 
him here. He didn't wish to intrude upon the reunion. 
Alice had the same notion. A very satisfying reputation 
after thirty-three years of marriage — if it were real. 

Mary. You know you are models. 

Mrs. Morse. But not to be copied. Why, here is even 
my own daughter. She never intends to marry. She wants 
to do something. 

Mary. Don't, Alice, don't. 

Alice. The advice of the successful — "Don't." 

Mary. The endorsement of the unsuccessful is most 
impressive — when they care to speak. Stay at home with 
your mother — until you marry. Please, do. I love you so 
much, and I want you to. 

Alice. Your mother wanted you to, but you didn't. 

Mary. I had no sooner left home than I choked with 
regret. But it was too late. I have been " 'mid pleasures, 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 207 

and palaces," but I have wanted my mother every hour 
since I left home, and I made up my mind to go back and 
tell her so — but not until she could be proud of her daugh- 
ter, after it all. What she would think always guided me. 

Alice. She has always been proud of you. 

Mary. I don't mean fondly proud, but proudly proud. 
Achievement is the only thing that justifies what I have 
done. The power to rise above circumstances is the one 
hope of the woman who leaves the beaten path. What must 
follow the failure to do that is too horrible to think about. 
I have looked too far beneath the surface of life to feel that 
I have deserved better than the thousands who suffer every- 
thing. It is the yearning for better things that makes them 
stake all upon their frail power. How often it is in vain I 
Natures that are restless and full of striving are full of 
danger ! I have felt it all the time, and I kept on merely be- 
cause I had an object and the world gives opportunities to 
women who tread on dangerous ground which nice girls do 
not enjoy in this wonderful, refined, male civilization 
of ours! I see my error now. A moment came — when — 
I saw things white and clear. I couldn't think of my 
parents' home as my home, just because it was not as 
bright and the horizon was not as broad as family life's 
should be. It was for this petty obstacle which I had it in 
me to remove that I made the girl's fatal mistake. I held 
lightly what was near and dear to me. God help the girl 
who breaks away from her family to seek a bigger love in 
the outside world. When a girl loses the touch of a moth- 
er's hand, and has no mother's breast to sob upon, she is 
hopelessly adrift. God help her, I say, for this modern 
world won't, though she be an angel sent from Heaven, 
bearing its salvation, and God bring her safe into a home 
and family of her own and the love of a good strong man. 

Mrs. Morse. That's true. [Putting her arm about 
Alice's neck.] Don't you suppose your parents thought 
all these things out? All parents do. 

Alice. Mother, dear! 



208 TEE WASTREL HOARD. 

Mrs. Morse. You were saved, my darling, from all 
danger, when you were a mere baby. You were then as 
self-willed as a mule. For twenty minutes we coaxed, 
commanded, cajoled, and threatened to make you pick up a 
doll you had thrown on the floor. Then I told you the 
story of the oak tree and the violet. They grew side by 
side in a forest. When the wind came, the violet bent upon 
its stem, but the sturdy oak stood stiff. The leaves moaned 
and pleaded : "Don't be headstrong. Think of us, your chil- 
dren. Let us live." The giant oak would look down upon 
the tender violet with scorn, and would pay no heed. Then, 
one day, there came a stronger wind than ever before and it 
blew down the giant oak. But when the Sun came out, the 
gentle violet was fresher and more beautiful than before. 
"Oh, dear," said the oak, "I am blown down and can never 
get up, while you, little violet, by giving in to the breeze, 
have come through without harm. I wish I had yielded in 
time." The moment the point of the story was made, yoii 
reached down, picked up the doll and handed it to me. You 
have never been a bit of trouble since. 

Mary. Alice was ready for that story then. I am ready 
for it, now — for the first time in my life. [Mary sinilet, 
reflects J turns away — then to Mrs. Morse.] Perhaps 
Alice is ready again. [The elevator is heard ascending.] 
How is Mr. Chance, Mrs. Morse? 

[Alice exceeds the others in expectancy.] 

Alice. [With apparent difficulty of utterance.] Ho 
has been in Europe. Didn't you see him there? 
[Enter Victor.] 

Mary. The best source of information about a gentle- 
man is the gentleman himself. 

Victor. Three to one. 

Mary. Too many by two. 

Victor. [Indicating the holiday decorations.] No, I 
am "The Great and Glorious Fourth." Eh! 

Mary. Modestly yielding to the ladies ! 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 209 

Victor. I am delighted to see you all again, Mrs. Morse 
and Alice. [Shakes hands with both.] 

Alice. And Mary ? 

ViCTOE. Is the most wonderful girl in the world. 

Mary. I've been arranging Victor's affairs for him. 
He's going to settle down and make a home for himself. 

Alice. Is he the man? 

Mary. Oh, no. You goose. Friends never marry. 

Alice. Indeed ! 

Mary. Friendship — "should be made of sterner stuff." 

[The elevator is heard ascending.] 

Victor. It brought us back to all of you on the same 
day. 

[Enter Russell from door at left. He looks as if 
he had lost sleep. He has overheard Victor's 
speech. He sees the group and stops, unmanned. 
Mary casts down her eyes and remains motion- 
less for a moment. The others look at the two. 
Mary raises her eyes, puts out her hand, and 
speaks almost inaudibly. Throughout the rest of 
the play, Mary ''acts." Her lightness of heart is, 
however, assumed hy reason of the necessity of 
concealing her real emotions from all hut Rus- 
sell. At surprised moments, she lets it appear 
that she is under restraint. Russell's conquest 
of the green-eyed monster is gradual. In his 
speech he has to contend with a dryness of the 
mouth, evidenced hy attempts to moisten his 
tongue and the roof of his m,outh. After the ex- 
change of greetings, Mrs. Morse takes Victor and 
Alice to a window for a moment. Russell, seiz- 
ing the occasion, turns, excited, to Mary.] 

Mary. [With a nod of caution.] Mr. Turner. 

Russell. You didn't meet me. 

Mary. I changed my mind about the steamer. 



210 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Russell. But your name wasn't on any list. I have 
searched them all. 

Mary. Have you the Deutschland list? 

[Russell draws from his pocket a nuinher of steam- 
ship lists and hands one to Mary. Mary finds a 
page and indicates it to Russell. Russell looks 
at the list with her.] 

Russell. That's the second cahin list of the Deutsch- 
land. What do you mean? 

Mary. See here — [Mary points to a name] — Frau 

T R ; just see how they've spelled it. Frau 

Trimer — und — [Mary quickly crumples the list and 
clenches it in her right hand] — I sailed under that name. 

Russell. In the second cabin? 

Mary. Yes. 

[Russell turns to Victor. Mary looks on during 

the conversation from under her lashes.] 

Russell. {As if calling Victor hack to he grilled,] 
On what boat did you come? 

t> Victor. [Turning casually from the window and 
starting to walk hack toward Mary and Russell.] The 
Rochambeau. 

Russell. Your name was not on the sailing list? 

Victor. We don't place our names on sailing lists any 
more. 

Russell. Nor a false name? 

Victor. Not any. No steamship man would insist 
upon it. 

Russell. Where did you sail from? 

Victor. Havre. 

Russell. You went there from Paris? 

Victor. No, from The Hague. 

Russell. You went to attend the Tribunal? 

Victor. Not exactly — Mary was there. 

Russell. You went with her? 

Victor. I followed her from St. Petersburg. 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 211 

[Russell turns to Mary, who raises her head and 
then her eyes demurely.] 

Russell. Mr. Chance has been very kind to you. 

Mary. Devotion itself. 

Russell. You have seen a good deal of one another in 
Europe? 

Mary. At Monte Carlo — at my dehut. [Mary gives 
Russell a meaning glance.] In Butterfly — he was there — 
a wandering spirit. 

Russell. Are you very fond of him? 

[Mrs. Morse and Alice rejoin Russell, Mary, 
and Victor.] 

Mary. He's the nicest, kindest, and most generous boy 
in the world. I just longed to anchor him to a hearthstone. 

[Alice winces; Mrs. Morse pats her on the hack.] 

Russell. And you, Mr. Chance, did you respond? 

Victor. It grew on me — until 

Russell. Did you bring anything over with you? 
Victor. Yes. I've had it a year, but I've been keeping 
it dark. I've been afraid to tell. 

[Enter Cortright unceremoniously from door at 
right.] 

Cortright. Well, you can tell it to me. 

Victor. Who are you, pray? 

Cortright. Here's my card. I'm a special officer of 
the Secret Service, assigned to the New York Custom 
House. Here's my badge. 

Victor. What can we do for you? 

Cortright. Is there anybody who lives here that came 
by the Rochambeau that landed today? 

Victor. Nobody that lives here. Why do you ask? 

Cortright. Well, we had a telephone inquiry about a 
party that was passing through the customs with only a 
solitaire diamond to declare. We looked up the declara- 



212 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

tions and found there was nothing to correspond with that, 
so we thought we'd inquire. I traced the telephone num- 
ber down and here's where it brought me. 

Russell. Aren't you very zealous? 

Victor. Over-efficiency, I'd call it. 

CORTRIGHT. It is often worth while. 

Victor. For one diamond? 

CoRTRiGHT. Sure. 

Victor. Oh, I see. I see. 

CoRTRiGHT. No, you dou't sce. 

Victor. Really? Mr. Boughtright, what would you 
rather have now than anything else in the world? 

CORTRIGHT. [Eagerly.] A little white house in the 

country, within access, for my wife and children 

[Stops suddenly.] Say ! Look here ! What are you trying 
to do with me? My name's Cortright, not Boughtright. I 
suppose you think I knew and let you pass to settle with 
you privately. Look out, young man, or some smart crook 
will have you paying him blackmail. It was the Depart- 
ment sent me. It's my duty. I'm after 

Victor. I meant no 

Cortright. No, sir. The courtesies of the Port don't 
go now. You've got to see the State Department about 
that. I'm from the Treasury Department. 

Victor. But you are extremely courteous. Can we do 
nothing further for you? 

Cortright. Excuse me, but I'd like to know who 
called up the Custom House and gave that information. 

Alice. I called up and asked for information. 

Cortright. It's the same thing. Every question is a 
clue. 

Alice. Really? 

Cortright. Sure — so is a denial. Even the most skil- 
ful liar can't resist the temptation to tell half-truths. 

Victor. Is that all you wish to know? 

Cortright. No. We got special advices from the 



TEE WASTREL HOARD. 213 

other side to watch all arriyals this week. I'll have to ask 
the young lady who she was expecting. 

AucE. {Pointing to Victor.] This gentleman, 

CoRTEiGHT. So, HOW. Did you come by the Rocham- 
beau? 

Victor. I did. 

CoETRiGHT. Did you bring anything to declare? I want 
to warn you how you answer. It's a criminal offense, and 
they don't let anybody off nowadays with only a fine. Im- 
prisonment follows every conviction. 

Mary. Is it too late to make a declaration? 

CoRTRiGHT. What d'ye mean, a declaration? Did you 
come with this gentleman? 

Russell. I'll answer for the lady. 

CoRTRiGHT. 'Tis a lady we're after. 

Mary. No, I'll answer for myself. I did not. 

CoRTRiGHT. Your Style of dress looks suspicioui. 

[Russell cautions Cortright.] 

Russell. Be careful what you say. 
CoRTRiGHT. Women coming from Europe don't dress 
poorly for any good purpose. Women are horn smugglers ! 
Mary. I came by the Deutschland. 

[Mary hands the sailing list to Russell with a 
glance that says: ''Don't dare to look at it." 
Russell grips it in his right hand.] 

Cortright. I thought so. 
Victor. ''Deutschland ueher Alles!" 
CORTRIGHT. [To Mary.] Well— Miss Alice! 
Mary. No. It is I. I'd like to declare something. 
[The chime in the library strikes once.] 

CORTRIGHT. I'm afraid it's too late. 
Victor. The lady volunteers. 

[The desk clock strikes twice.] 
CORTRIGHT. Not at this stage it isn't voluntary. We're 
required to make a search. 



214 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Maey. But that isn't necessary. 

[The clock in the room above strikes twice.] 

CoRTRiGHT. I suppose not, but they assume you declare 
things from fear. 

Mary. That's immaterial. I ^ish to tell the au- 
thorities what I brought. Shall I tell you? 

[The chime in the hall helow strikes once.] 

CoRTRiGHT. I'm the man to tell. 

Mary. Your information came from Holland? 

CORTRIGHT. That's right. That's the diamond market. 

Mary. I know your informant. 

CORTRIGHT. He's got a big pull, whoever he is. He's 
got the Department working overtime. The orders were 
to search. Now, if I only got you on the ship or on the 
dock, the Lady Inspector would be handy. I'll have to de- 
tain you, I'm afraid. 

Victor. Can't you cut that out? 

CORTRIGHT. She's an opera singer. 

Alice. What have I done ! 

Mary. Scissors, please. I'll save you the trouble. 

Alice. Right here on the desk. 

[Alice hands Mary the scissors. Mary cuts the 
red piping on her dress and draws out a string of 
rubies. The others are apparently much con- 
cerned, Mary makes an effort to appear playful.] 

Mary. Mr. Officer. You were right. I'm the lady — 
disguised. I wear this costume in Carmen — in the third 
act — at the smuggler's cave. 

CORTRIGHT. That's how you got by? Shades of Doctor 
Watson ! 

Mary. [With feigned spirit, archly, making a dance 
step, and tapping Cortright with her fan.] I wouldn't 
have missed meeting you for anything. 

Cortright. [Bewitched.] Thank you. 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 215 

Mary. [Overcoming a nervous, pathetic, little laugh, 
she sings the air of the quintette at the smugglers' cave.] 

AUegrb deciso. 




nier, c'est notre af-fai 
guard, be eas- y, broth - ers 



tre U aime a plaire, D _ 
— as weD as otb-ers, They 



Tout, comma un au 

They- like , to please. 




fai - re le g-a-lant^ 
be gal-lant, and morel 



Ahl 
AIil 



Lais- ses- nous pas-ser en a - 
Let OS go OD a while ba- 




[Mary hands the rubies to Cortright.] 

CoRTRiGHT. Those are beauties. Those were not pur- 
chased in this country. Not that it makes any difference 
now, but I'm only telling you. I know every bit of jewelry 
in that class. Pigeon blood, every one of them. 

Russell. [To Victor.] Did you make the gift? 

Victor. I'm sorry to say I didn't. 

Russell. [To Mary.] "lT7;o gave them to you? 

Mary. The Crown Prince of Germany. 

Victor. "To match your lips," you remember? 

Russell. Why did you accept them ? 

Mary. As a matter of course. History records no' in- 
stance of an actress with fortitude enough to refuse a pres- 
ent of jewelry. [She cuts the white piping.] See, here 
are some more of them. [She draws out a string of dia- 
monds.] 

Russell. Where did you get these? 

Mary. From a Russian Grand Duke. 

Victor. "For your swan-white neck," the scoundrel ! 

Russell. Why did you take them? 

Mary. As a matter of habit. See, here are some more. 



216 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

[She cuts the blue piping, and drains out a string 
of sapphires.^ 

Russell. Where did you get those? 

Mary. From one who hopes some day to be Emperor of 
Austria-Hungary. 

Victor. "For your eyes to dim," the rake. 

EussELL. Why did you take them? 

Mary. To fill out the set — -[She holds them up togeth- 
er'] — and to give them to Uncle Sam. See, they are red, 
white, and blue. But here are some more. \_She cuts her 
wide belt of gray and draws out several collars of pearls 
and holds them up.] The tears of the greater and the lesser 
nobility of Europe! 

Victor. [With comic disgust.] Yes, damn them. "Your 
pearly teeth!" 

CoRTRiGHT. I'm sorry. Miss. I'll have to take them. 
All smuggled goods are confiscated. You may buy them 
back at auction. 

Mary. Not much. I wouldn't stain my fingers with 
them. To me they represent the blood, the tears, the 
bruised hearts, and the ashes of existence such things mean 
to the common people from whom they are exacted. I've 
been trying to get rid of them without exciting comment, 
from the start. 

Russell. Did Mr. Chance know about these gifts? 

Mary. He certainly did, and he agreed with me. Didn't 
you? 

Victor. You bet I did. 

CORTRIGHT. Anything else? 

[Mary draws a cloth hag from her corsage.] 

Mary. Some of these I shall claim. There are things 
for you all — presents, Mr. Cortright. 

CoRTRiGHT. That makes no difference. I'll just list 
these things and make out the papers. 

[Steps into another room. Calls others in except 
Russell, Mary and Mrs. Morse. Mary clutches 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 217 

at something concealed in her corsage over her 
heart and restrains an exclamation of triumph.] 

Maey. Russell ! 

[Enter Bullard suddenly hut stealthily from the 
door at the right. His appearance and manner 
betray nervousness induced hy a great worry and 
solace sought in drink.] 

Bullard. I hope I do not intrude. 

Mrs. Morse. [Checking an expression of surprise.] 
Not at all. I am glad to see you, Mr. Bullard. Did you 
have a pleasant voyage? 

Bullard. Yes, thank you. If you will pardon me, 

I have very urgent business with Mr. Turner and Miss 

[To Russell.] Shall we step out? At last, we three to- 
gether? 

Russell. There need be no privacy in our relations. 

Bullard. I wasn't considering my own peace of mind. 

Russell. Nor need you consider mine. 

Mrs. Morse. Will you kindly excuse me? I'll see that 
you are not disturbed. [Goes into other room.] 

Bullard. You are a public official, I believe. 

Russell. I am. 

Bullard. In the Department of State of the United 
States of America? 

Russell. Correct. I am Counselor. You remember— 
I have but one client. 

Bullard. Huh? 

Russell. The American People ! 

Bullard. Exactly! And in the absence of your su- 
perior you became Acting Secretary of State. 

Russell. That is true. 

Bullard. And as such you had power to surrender 
valuable advantages of the people of the United States. 

Russell. Practically— if I were so disposed. 

Bullard. Ten days ago you were for a few days in 
charge of the State Department? 



218 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Russell. I was. In fact, even the President was inac- 
cessible. 

BuLLARD. And your country was struggling before an 
international tribunal to retain certain advantages in the 
use of the Pacific Canal? 

Russell. Yes. Go on. 

BuLLARD. And you used your power to sell out your 
country ? 

Russell. What! That is a crime! 

BuLLARD. My boy ! It is worse than a crime ; it is a 
mistake. In effect, you committed high treason. 

Russell. You scoundrel 

[Russell advances toward Bullard. Bullard 
draws out a small revolver, with a pearl handle, 
studded with diamonds. Mary starts at recogni- 
tion of the pistol. The muzzle is pointed toward 
Russell. Mary steps in front of Russell with 
an exclamation and attempts to restrain him.] 

Mary. Russell ! 

[Russell steps hack.] 

Bullard. This pistol is loaded — with jewels. [Turn- 
ing to Mary.] It just fits a lady's hand. 

Russell. You mean ? 

Bullard. I mean to have my say. If anyone is hurt, 
appearances must point as I choose. 

Russell. The report will 

Bullard. Be followed by a great silence. [Bullard 
places the pistol on the desk.] Besides, this pistol makes 
no sound. [Bullard picks up the pistol, aims at a sofa 
cushion and pulls the trigger. Only a click is heard. Bul- 
lard draws from his pocket, with his left hand, a box of 
cartridges, places it on the desk, takes one from the "box, 
breaks the pistol, ejects a discharged shell, replaces it with 
the loaded shell, replaces the pistol on the desk, draws 
from his pocket a handsome leather pistol-case, and places 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 219 

it on the desk.] These were purchased ten days ago at 
The Hague, where they had just been put upon the market, 
by an American lady, a mysterious cottager at Scheven. 
ingen, where the pistol and slugs were found, but we'll say 
they were smuggled into this country for an emergency 

[Mary has watched Bullard's handling of the pis- 
tol with intense interest and her absorption he- 
comes gradually more apparent up to the moment 
of the disclosure of a plan for the use of the pistol, 
when she passes her hand across her forehead and 
covers her eyes. At the loord "emergency," she 
starts, but her spell passes icith a reassuring 
look at Russell.] 

— vengeance or suicide, or both, or merely self-defense. 
Circumstances would indicate which. 

[Russell and Mary loatch Bullard with open 
mouths, as if astounded at a new discovery of a 
hitherto unsuspected character. They ejaculate 
at the same time.] 

Russell. You 1 

Mary. You . 



[Bullard interrupts them coldly.] 

Bullard. And now, as I was saying, you were in the 
pay of your new client. 

[Russell moves toward the pistol. Bullard antici- 
pates him. Mary grasps Russell's left arm.] 

Russell. I'll step out with you 



Bullard. The British shipping interests? 

Mary. [To Bullard. J Are you plaintiff's counsel? 

Russell. [Not noticing Mary's speech.] I'll make 
you eat your words I 

Bullard. [Not noticing Mary^s speech.] Like Bene- 
dict Arnold. 



220 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Mary. [To Bullard.] Are you workang for England's 
enemy ? 

EussELL. [Not noticing Mary^s speech.] Or I'll choke 
you. 

Bullard. And I can prove it. 

[Russell becomes calmer and curious. Mary gives 
up the attempt to get into the quarrel.] 

EussELL. How? 

Bullard. The original cable was removed from the 
files of the State Department. 

EussELL. I never saw it. 

Bullard. While you were in charge. 

Russell. The cable company has no record. 

Bullard. And Congress is now debating the question 
of an inquiry and punishment. 

Russell. I have tried to solve the riddle myself. 

Bullard. And you may undo the damage. 

Mary. [Eagerly.] How? Tell me how / can help him! 

Bullard. By joining hands with me. It'll be all right. 

Russell. Never ! 

Bullard. I'll make restitution for you to your British 
clients and double their retainer. And I'll call off the in- 
vestigation. Remember I The mailing of one letter puts 
you at the mercy of a scurvy politician on the Federal 
Bench ! 

Russell. Leave this house. 

Bullard. Not until I have had my say. 

Russell. There are ladies in the next room. 

Bullard. And one here who is your confederate.; 

Russell. This is no — time — ! 

Bullard. An American adventuress 

[Russell moves towards the telephone.] 

Russell. This is not the place — ! Headquarters — ! 

[Bullard raises the pistol. Mary restrains Rus- 
sell.] 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 221 

BuLLARD. {With great feeling.] She has brought you 
to this. 

Russell. And have you jailed. 
IjULLard. And she has deceived you. 

[Mary leaves Russell^s side and advances toward 
Bullard. Russell moves forward to restrain 
her.] 

Russell. Stop! I won't listen to you. 

Bullard. And I can prove it. 

Mary. [Turning to Russell.] Please let him prove it. 

Russell. [Speaking half to each.] This must not go 
on. 

Mary. [Turning to Bullard.] Proceed, Mr. Bullard. 
I am listening. 

Bullard. Will you answer my questions? 

Mary. Yes. 

Russell. No. She will not. 

Bullard. [Turning to Mary.] Will you prevent in- 
terference? 

Mary. Mr. Turner will not interrupt. 

Bullard. Very good, then. How long have you been 
in Europe? 

Mary. Almost two years and a half. 

Bullard. Studying music, and singing? 

Mary. Yes. And human nature ! 

Bullaed. You have met many distinguished men? 

Mary. Very many. All the somebodies, most of them 
nobodies ! 

Bullard. And have accepted attentions from them? 

Mary. Yes.. 

Bullard. And gifts? 

Mary. Yes. 

Bullard. And you have lived well? 

Mary. Yes. [With sarcasm.] You know — I had my 
scholarship. 



222 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

BuLLARD. And you have represented to every one of 
them that the Pacific Canal should be free? 

Mary. Yes. 

BuLLARD. And that the American people should insist 
upon it? 

Mary. I believe it. Special privileges are a peril to 
popular freedom, even in the nation that claims them as a 
national boon. 

Bullard. And you bound to you, among others, a ma- 
jority of the judges of the Hague Tribunal as constituted 
for the Pacific Case? 

Mary. In a way. 

Bullard. By intimacy with them. 

Mary. Where is the proof? 

Bullard. I had it from the gentlemen themselves. 

Mary. Gentlemen ? Political gunmen ! Like yourself. 

Russell. Is this true? 

Mary. Is what true? 

Russell. That you know these men? 

Mary. Every successful singer knows them. 

Russell. Did they make love to you? 

Mary. They did, but 

Russell. But they did make love to you? 

Mary. They made love to me. I was austere. But I 

fought the devil with fire ! I had to To overcome Mr. 

Bullard, however, didn't require either a Judith or a 
Gemma — nor a Tosca or a Monna Vanna! No siren 
song ! 

Bullard. And during that time you became a mother? 

[Mary clutches at her corsage over her heart. Bul- 
lard observes that Mary is wearing Russell^s 
locket. She observes the one Bullard is wearing 
upon his watch-chain.] 

Mary. Where is your proof? 

Bullard. You brought a child with you to the United 

States. 



THE WASTREL HOARD, 223 

Maey. Yes? 
Russell. Is that true"? 

[Russell grips the sailing list, looks down at it as 
if he would like to drop it hut can't, looks at Dul- 
lard, down at the sailing list again, and then at 
Mary.] 

Mary. I can't answer that 

[BuLLARD moves away from the pistol, leaving it 
within reach of either Russell or Mary. Hb 
draws out a lady's pocket handkerchief and holds 
it crumpled in his right hand.] 

Bullabd. Then you'll answer to a Congressional Com- 
mittee. 

Mary. It will be time enough to deny it then. 

Russell. [Turning to Mary.] Tell him he lies ! Tell 
him now I ! 

Mary. [Turning to Russell and speaking tenderly.] 
Why should I tell himf [Turning to Bullard.] A man 
should not interfere with children until he has shown the 
record of his own offspring ! Uncle Sam can nurse vipers, 
it seems, but can't tolerate his own natural children. 

Bullaed. I've requested a child be deported. 

Mary. [Momentarily off her guard.] No! — No! — No! 

Russell. [To Bullard.] No! — No! 

Mary. [Controlling herself , and to B^v^^^lIj.] You see! 
[ Crescendo. ] That doesn't concern him ! ! 

Russell. But it concerns me. 

Mary. Then I shouldn't tell him! 

Bullard. And this pocket-handkerchief — [Bullard 
displays the handkerchief, examines the initial, and tosset 
it upon the table] — was given me by young Victor Chance 
at The Hague. 

Mary. Unto this! — Last! — lago! [Bullard winces.] 
You stooped at The Hague — I dropped my handkerchief — 
as a challenge, hoping you would pick it up. 



224 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

BuLLAED. Well, keep your confidences, if you wish, 
provided you join hands with me — both of you. It'll be 
all right. 

KussELL. [Turning away from Maey.] Not both of 
us. I am in no confederacy. 

BuLLAED. Are you not in British employ? 

Russell. I am not. My mouth has been sealed. 

BuLLAED. And you didn't know she was? 

Russell. Certainly not, and 

Maey. You haven't proved it. 

BULLAED. But I will. 

Russell. [Turning to face Maey.] Prove he can't. 

Maey. That is easy. 

Bullaed. [Affects a sneer.'] Of course, you had 
sources of information other women lacked. But how do 
you propose to prove it? 

Maey. [Turning to Bullaed.] "Out of thine own 
mouth will I judge thee." By your own words? 

Bullaed. To whom? 

Maey. To Senator Morse. 

Bullaed. There were no witnesses. 

Maey. You are mistaken? 

Bullaed. And I admitted nothing. 

Maey. Except that you had the Court bought. 

Bullaed. Who heard that? 

Maey. I did. 

Bullaed. You won't be believed. 

Maey, There was another witness. 

Bullaed. Who was it? 

Maey. A Dutch official. 

Bullaed. [As tvith a had memory.] Ugh I The Flying 
Dutchman I He — lies! He couldn't tell sl straight yarn ! 
He's all at sea ! He won't be believed against me ! 

Maey. But Senator Morse will. 

Bullaed. He wouldn't believe it himself. 

Maey. Not from you, but he had corroboration. 

Bullaed. [Starting as if from twinges. ] From whom? 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 225 

Mary. From the judges themselves. 

BuLLARD. But there were no witnesses. The judges 
didn't suspect it themselves. 

Mary. One judge knew. He was your master and 
your master's master. The man who sells himself never 
knows who the buyer is or how much he's giving up. The 
plot against the Canal was not for commerce, not for peace, 
but for war — war against your own country — to keep our 
two oceans, our two shores, and our two fleets, and those 
of the friends of liberty far apart, while our foreign-owned 
railroads served their master's armies, drafted from our 
very midst. You didn't know, but I know now, and I can 
prove it. What you attempted was worse than a crime; it 
was a mistake. Their purpose is to keep our railroads 
from our canal in war time! In effect, you were commit- 
ting high treason. [Mary imitates Liebig von Speidel.] 
'^Don't quote me ! Don't quote me ! International benker! 
That's me I" And just then a shot was fired at him or for 
him at Sarajevo ! Big guns, big business, and rakes — hold- 
ing one another up. The three lusts — potation, power, and 
prostitution. If each of these evils is necessary, why are 
they always found together? They arise from the love of 
hoards — the big and little hoards ; he who serves the hoard- 
ers serves their lusts — and his own destruction. The 
world must see and declare that those who are not socially 
honest cannot be personally honest — which is to say, per- 
sonally sane. The world's pity should be their scourge ! 

BuLLARD. [Opening Jiis eyes as if taking in a new 
thought and almost expressive of gratitude to his inform- 
ant.] Why do you say that? How do you know that? 
[BuLLARD assumes an attitude almost of terror.] By 
whom can you prove that? , 

Mary. By the same two witnesses — they heard the 
separate version of all the 

Bullard. [Becomes calmer and assumes, as if defen- 
sively, his attitude of defiance.] Before you can be heard 
you will be in jail. Throughout Europe, you'll be hounded 



226 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

as a spy. Your contract with Wolf was meant to keep you 
far from The Hague. By breaking it without notice, you 
committed, fortunately, the one unpardonable sin of the 
theatre. It has already been arranged that you shall never 
sing in any opera house in the world. 

Mary. [Imitating Bullard^s speech.] That's the 
German system ! Even the brightest are its dupes ! [Mary 
resumes her earnest manner. Confidently.] I didn't depend 
upon the villains in Europe, and I certainly won't in my 
own country. A simple, honest melody will outrun the 
clink of your gold, the world over. Music is the one inter- 
national and universal language, and America can speak 
it for herself. I appealed to the common people of Europe, 
through the universal chord, and I shall certainly awaken 
a response in the people of my own country. America 
needs no leadership — of Teuton or Briton! America will 
thrust aside all who see only the pay in patriotism and 
through that America herself will lead the world. 

Bullard. I want to see that ! A lot that'll get you ! 

Mary. America needs foreign music about as much as 
it needs to import strawberries. I have sung an entire 
program of American songs from the concert stage of 
every country in Europe, the songs of the race, that be- 
speak its ever-remembering soul — 

Bullard. Its what! 

Mary. Its salvation from your kind. A short memory 
is fatal to popular freedom. 

Bullard. [Darting a sinister, threatening looh at both 
Mary and Russell.] It's often convenient for individuals. 

Mary. [Meeting the challenge with a smile.] Well, I 
always ended by summing up these memories — and all the 
individuals, in vibrant harmony with me, stirred the mystic 
chords of memory that stretch world-wide in the real peo- 
ple's anthem, "Home, Sweet Home." [Bullard sneers.] 
Yes. There's in that song a general heartbeat that circles 
the earth in instantaneous response. And Vm going 
to sing that program from the stage of the Metropol- 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 227 

itan and elsewhere until the "breath from the sky" is 
breathed again and politics and corruption give place, all 
over this broad land, to patriotism and co-operation. You 
forget that I am a scholar sent abroad by America's great- 
est Opera House, and that I captured Europe. You know 
that; you contrived it yourself so as to get me out of the 
country. But I did not join the international geishas. 
That's why I'm tabooed. There's a musical serfdom both 
for artists and public. I started my emancipation in Eu- 
rope; I'll complete it at home. I'll sing in American opera 
with American singers in every opera city in America. 
"The eagle suffers little birds to sing, and is not careful 
what they mean thereby!" Would your precious friends, 
your retired burglar patrons of art, rather have the people 
hear my voice or have them hear why they can't? No 
dishonest act or even a whisper will ever get me a chance 
to sing. 

BuLLARD. I've only one wish about you; I wish you 
were a man. 

Mary. You wouldn't, if you loere. Big guns blew one 
American girl from the stage of the Metropolitan, but 
they never will another ! 

BuLLARD. I repeat, you'll be in jail before you are 
heard. 

Mary. I have already been heard. 

BuLLARD. In what way? 

Mary. / read in the wireless news on shipboard that 
Congress was investigating the suspension of the Hague 
Tribunal, and I wired the Speaker of the House of Repre- 
sentatives to await my statement. 

Bullard. He'll never receive it. 

Mary. But he did receive it. I was met outside the har- 
bor by the Speaker's secretary, swore to my statement, and 
gave it to him, early this morning, just as the July sun was 
rising over the Statue of Liberty. He telephoned it to the 
Speaker in Washington, where it was taken down by a 
stenographer. I don't believe there vdW be any investiga- 



228 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

tion. If it isn't called off for good now, the American peo- 
ple will have their say about the matter, and the Hague 
Tribunal will never be reconvened for this case. 

[Mary picks up the ejected shell, examines it, and 
smiles.] 
BuLLAED. May I use the telephone? I'd better go out- 
side. I will see you all later. It'll be all right. 

[BuLLARD starts to go out. Mary halts him, points 
to the pistol case and cartridges, watches him 
take them and put them into his pocket, and makes 
him listen as he goes.] 
Mary. That silencer — don't try to shoot anybody with 
those bullets. I had the powder drawn. I'm not a coward, 
but I am afraid of pistols. Decent people all are, and, when 
they really control the governments of the world, there is 
going to be absolute disarmament all around. And we'll 
begin by taking back the war chests that make it possible 
to feed the mouths of cannon but not the mouths of children, 
to support the world's breadwinners while they are killing 
one another, but not while they are slaving for the grand 
alliance of industrial, political, financial, and military 
dynasts in times of peace. We'll take a turn at killing mon- 
sters in the embryo and letting the little children live. 
People who keep more money than they know how to use 
properly are intellectual perverts, and they should be put 
out of the way of exercising their perversion upon society. 
The only way civilization can withstand the force of gun- 
powder is to eliminate it from civilization. The two can't 
survive together ! When gold and gunpowder do the fight- 
ing what chance is there for manhood? The next war 
must not end until a world power is established to keep 
the world disarmed. The best plan of self-defense has 
always been to disarm the adversary and now it seems 
civilization's only plan. Your kind could all turn their 
talent for destruction to a better use ! 

[BuLLARD makes a gesture of despair, takes the pis- 
tol and cartridges from his pocket, and places 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 22» 

them on the desk. Russell takes them up, sniffs 
the muzzle of the pistol, and thrusts the pistol and 
the cartridges into his pocket.] 

Mary. The Senator will return your scholarship fund 
intact, Mr. Bullard, \\dth interest. I was soon able to make 
my own way. A little aid to the struggling young person 
is never a bad investment. I hope the next scholar makes 
good use of it — [Mary draics paper from corsage over her 
left hreast] — better than you intended. A social system 
which offers to tender, virtuous, and dependent women the 
alternative between prostitution and suicide as an escape 
from beggary is organized crime for which some day unre- 
lenting justice will demand atonement and expiation. 
[Bullard notices for the first time the picture of "Siceet 
Lily Earle." He starts, and Mary glances hurriedly at the 
object of his attention. Bullard looks at Russell and 
from Russell to Mary.] And — by the way — Mr. Bullard, 
if you need a copy of your cable to Winmer from The Hague 
about the Chance holdings, I will lend you mine. {Extend- 
ing hand with telegram in it.] Or your cable to the Treas- 
ury Department demanding my apprehension. When in- 
vestigating cables always look for those both ways ! 

Bullard. {Throwing up his hands and going out hur- 
riedly.] Thanks for the suggestion. I shall! 

Russell. Why did you conceal these things? Why did 
you come second class? Wh}^ did you carry concealed jew- 
els? Why did you not deny his insinuations? 

Mary. All for a purpose. I knew Bullard's plan to 
have me searched. I had something to conceal at any cost 
— even by the pretence of smuggling. That is why I changed 
steamers — and costumes 

[Mary points to the sailing list in Russell^s hand. 
He takes it in hoth hands and examines the list 
eagerly; having found the place, he turns to 
Mary.] 

Russell. Didn't Mr. Chance know about that? 



230 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Mary. Nobody knows about that. Two years ago, I 
made a secret trip to New York. Only mother was here. 

EussELL. Were you here then? Mrs. Morse has had a 
weekly letter 

Mary. I wrote ten in advance, and had them 
mailed 

EussELL. But each letter contained a long, circumstan- 
tial account of — what you had — not — been doing. 

Mary. Naturally — a real Avoman's letter. I told 
mother what / wanted her to think. The public's prefer- 
ence for single singers ! — and so the darling actually helped 
me to deceive — the public! 

EusSELL. Why did you do that? 

Mary. Eead this. The jewels saved that. A mother 
must think — for the future." Women are born smugglers! 

{^Draws paper from her corsage. Eussell reads it 
and hastily thrusts it in his pocket.] 

Eussell. How^ much a little scrap of paper may mean ! 

Mary. It is only a scrap of paper, but all the world to 
me! Bullard guessed that night in there — [Mary points 
toward the door of the banquet roo7n] — and he knew you 
didn't. Until The Hague, he thought he had kept me from 
you. 

Eussell. [Pointing to something in the paper.] Is 
that true?— the Fourth of July? 

Mary. Yes. Two years ago today. At last, I have 
reached my goal. Bullard dare not speak ! 

Eussell. Why did you conceal it from me? 

Mary. To protect a woman — and her two girls. It 
doesn't matter now. She is dead. And the girls will never 
know, 

Eussell. Mary! And the great sacrifice for the man 
escaped you ! For me you've made all past time aglow. 

Mary. The sacrifice was lost in its joy. And I came to 
this country to preserve the rights of a boy. I was bound 
he should have his birthright ! That was my stake in the 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 231 

great fight. Oh, the unshared sorrow and the untold pain ! 
And to be so alone — at that time when a woman most needs 
the consolation of— the father of her child. But it brought 
out the woman that was in me, that nothing could smother 

then I gladly bore it with joy and rapture for your 

«ake. If you had known, I could not have kept on alone. 

Russell. Mary, dear, I wish I were worth it 

Mary. And by thut, my faith in you, which never 
flagged, was tested— and justified. It came to me without 
a question. The Dutch official, in charge of the cables, was 
Hugo Gulp. 

Russell. [With mixed wonderment and pleasure.] 
Gulp ! My good, loyal Gulp. 

Mary. Mij good, loyal Gulp. Hugo De Groot Gulp. 

Russell. Hugo De Groot Gulp — Baron Van Deventer ! 

Mary. Of the nobility ! He never mentioned it. 

Russell. They never do in Holland. It is the real 
thing there. 

Mary. I should say it is ! 

Russell. Gulp is a descendant of Hugo Grotius. 

Mary. The embryo again ! 

Russell. What ! 

Mary. Ideas and character are just born over and over 
again. Men of low aims sink in the sea of time. 

Russell. Yes. Gulp would never tell the story. 

Mary. But he did say there was one. 

Russell. Yes. 

Mary. And soon after — Senator Morse — about you — 
Bullard was goading him — I Avas eavesdropping — and I 
heard — Senator Morse squelched Bullard with the story. 

Russell. And Ghance didn't know anything of this? 

Mary. Trust a woman to deceive. Victor was easily 
deceived. He was so infatuated. 

Russell. With you? 

Mary. Of course not. With somebody else. [Enter 
Victor, Mrs. Morse, and Gortright.] Weren't vou, Vic- 
tor? 



232 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Victor. What? 

Mary. Infatuated with a girl? 

Victor. You bet I was, and I am. 

Mary. Other than me? 

Victor. Certainly. Excuse me, but it's true. 

KussELL. Is that true, Chance? 

Victor. By all that's holy. 

Russell. Was she in Europe? 

Victor. No. Of course not. You know perfectly well, 
she has never left this country. 

Russell. Well, that's a queer sign of infatuation. 

Victor. But a necessary one. I had a queer obsession 
to overcome before I could hope to win. I came back on 
purpose to 

Russell. [Concealing his impatience only with ef- 
fort.] Well, if it's not asking too much, who is the young 
woman? 

Victor, It's Alice Morse. I've been waiting for her 
father to arrive, but I'm getting impatient. Now she knows 
what I'm here for. 

Alice. And you may as well know that your trip has 
been wasted. You may go back to Europe when your 
friend goes? 

Mary. Alice, how could you? 

Alice. I have no use for a husband who does his court- 
ing by racing all over Europe at the heels of somebody else. 
Only a man blinded by the possession of money and the 
power it gives could dare to speak to a girl about marriage 
under the circumstances. What could she expect from him 
afterward? An absent honeymoon, I guess. I've said I'd 
never marry a man of means, and I won't. I don't care 
how fine he is, or how much I care for him. I won't marry 
him, I won't ! I won't 

Victor. But, Alice 



[The library chime strikes one.] 
Maby. This is not new to me. My dear child, this boy 



TEE WASTREL HOARD. 233 

has been following me all over Europe, pestering me about 
you and your ideas. 

[The desk clock strikes three times.] 

Victor. [In a mock serious manner.] Yes, I repeated 
it all. "The greatest force on earth is the force of inertia." 
That's what keeps the rich young man down. He does not 
need to do anything and he does nothing. 

[The clock above strikes three times.] 

"He walks beneath the moon, 
He sleeps beneath the sun, 
He lives the life of going-to-do. 
And dies 

[The chime in the hall helotv strikes once.] 

— with nothing done." 

"Death to the idle rich ! Only those who serve should 

survive " And so on. We both know the whole speech 

by heart. 

Mary. He told me you wouldn't marry him because 
he had money and I said I didn't blame you. I told him 
I agreed with you. And why do you suppose he kept at me? 
Only to be convinced. We became a debating society. He 
knew I believed earnestly in the dangers of a great fortune. 
He wanted to see it my way, and couldn't. 

Alice. And he never will. 

Mary. But he used to draw out the solitaire and gaze 
at it and then he'd ply me with questions. 

KussELL. Is that what you've been keeping dark for 
a whole year. Chance? 

Victor. It's mighty hard to keep a diamond dark. It's 
been burning holes all over me. 

Mary. At first he fell back on family traditions, his 
responsibilities to society, and to his descendants. Just the 
same thing as the divine right of kings, you know, insanity, 
furor teutonicus, a destructive state of mind. Then he ex- 
plained that he could administer his property better than 



234 TEE WASTREL HOARD. 

another — that it was founded a century ago. It was pay- 
ing wages, giving employment, and all that — just King 
Alcohol's plea. Like all the rich, he inherited from Chance 
and thought it was Providence. 

Alice. I've heard it all. It's no use. 

Mary. But it is some use. He thought so because he 
kept at me to convince him. His silence deceives 

Alice. But you didn't. 

Victor. But she did. 

[Victor draws out an old-fashioned purse, holds it 
out to Alice^ and commences to recite :] 

"There is thy gold, worse poison to men's souls, 
Doing more murder in this loathsome world, 
Than these poor compounds that " 

[Cortright intercepts the purse and interrupts the 
speech.] 

Cortright. Sorry to interrupt you, but I'll have to 
trouble you for that solitaire. 

Victor. Life is just one hold-up after another. You 
are just in time, officer. 

Cortright. That's me. 

Victor. Here, Alice. The only assets I have in the 
world now are this — [Drawing out a belt filled with jew- 
els] — a Fifth Avenue residence, three country places, wine 
cellars, a house in London and in Paris, shooting-lodges, a 
stock farm, kennels, game preserves, conservatories, two 
steam yachts, some automobiles, collections of paintings, 
sculpture, armor, jewels, and a dozen other useless little 
things like those. [Alice frowns; Victor continues reas- 
surringly.] They pay no dividends, and I am giving them 

to you [Alice smiles.] Now you see how much I love 

you. The divine right to be maintained forever in the style 
to which I have been accustomed, I have abandoned entire- 
ly. I've removed the last barrier to a perfect union. I can 
live without everything — but you. [As if wound up to con 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 235 

tinue.] I neither drink nor smoke. I've got rid of the 

worst of vices — the fear of poverty. And I 

Alice. Victor ! You poor man ! [Alice gives way to 
tears.] Come kiss me. 

Mary. [Laughing hut dabbing at her eyes with her 
handkerchief.] And now she's weeping! "How much bet- 
ter it is to weep at joy than to joy at weeping I'' 

Victor. It wasn't because she liked it, but just for the 
experience ! Eh ! 

Alice. [Through her tears.] I can't tell! 

[Victor and Alice embrace. Cortright goes to the 

back of the stage. Russell and Mary go to a 

corner and commence to talk together.] 

Victor. [As soon as Alice half releases him.] And I 

persuaded Aunt Havorbee to give up her cocktail. Pretty 

good, at her time of life. Eh ! 

Alice. [Humming and half singing, as she leads Vic- 
tor to another corner.] ^^Because you come to me with 

naught save love ^" 

[Thorburn enters and watches the group a mo- 
ment.] 
Thorburn. Are congratulations in order? 

[Thorburn shakes hands with Alice, Victor, and 
Mrs. Morse.] 
Victor. Yes, indeed. Glad you are in on them. 
Thorburn. I missed you at the steamer, 
Victor. I'm not surprised. I lost no time. 
Thorburn. Mr. Bullard said I should find you here. 
Excuse my coming. 

Victor. That's all right. How about the deed? 
Thorburn. That's what I wish to speak about. 
[Mrs. Morse and Alice join Russell and Mary, 
and the four stand away from Victor and Thor- 
burn.] 
Victor. Well, everybody knows now. Speak right 
out. 



236 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Thorburn. Well, you see — I've been attorney for the 
Chance estate since the time of your grandfather, and I 
didn't expect you'd do this when I drew the papers and 

Victor. But you drew them and agreed to sign them. 

Thorburn. Yes, but representations have been made 
to me that question might be raised. 

Victor. To what? 

Thorburn. Well — to the form. 

Victor. That may be remedied. Anything else? 

Thorburn. And to your competency. 

Victor. I am over twenty-one . 

Thorburn. But such a deed is unusual — and consider- 
ing the amount — unheard of 

Victor. Well, getting that amount of money the way 
I did is not heard of very often, either. 

Thorburn. The law of wills 

Victor. I won't question the source of it, but I know 
that a man simply can't earn and keep even one million 
dollars without being unjust. 

Thorburn. Society permits it. 

Victor. So far as my right against society is con- 
cerned, my ancestors had no greater right to leave me a 
million dollars or I the right to receive it than they would 
have had to leave me, after the custom of the ancient 
Greeks, their debts to that amount, and to impose upon 
me the obligation to pay that deficit out of my own prop- 
erty or by my own effort. 

Thorburn. There must be capitalists. 

Victor. Is a capitalist more worth to his race than a 
Shakespeare or a Rembrandt?- Why should posterity keep 
paying royalties to the one and not to the others? Money 
is not immortal! Money is not creative! Money is not 
even intelligent!! Shakespeare was the royalest of kings. 
From him all men inherit. He left an empire of divine 
humanity. He made all men gods and created a universe 
— of the soul. 

Thorburn. Culture rests on inheritance ! Inheritance 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 237 

by the male line held society together long before Shake- 
speare. 

Victor. The society of dynasts. The common people 
have paid dear for that necessity, Male parentage is the 
most unprovable thing in the world — a birth certificate — 
a mere scrap of paper. 

Thorburn. The world revolves about the contrary of 
that proposition. That mere scrap of paper is the one 
great guarantee of civilization. 

Victor. Russell, here, and I were born at the same 
hospital, at the same time. By what social principle waa 
I determined to be fortune's favorite? 

Thorburn. By an unfailing instinct felt by your mother, 
your father, and you — registered in a scrap of paper at 
their marriage and in another scrap of paper when you 
were born. 

Victor. It is important, then, that the scrap of paper 
speak the truth. I, for one, never felt that instinct for my 
parents — any more than if we had been parted at my birth. 

Thorburn. A child's instinct reaches forward to its 
child — seldom backward to its parents. 

Victor. I did love dolls — which doesn't prove a thing. 

Thorburn. Well, under the law, the scrap of paper 
gives you the power to dispose of your property as you 
choose — and it will continue to give to the remotest fila- 
ment of your ancestry the tensile power of the strongest 
chain. Through it you are the master of your property, 
not I, or anyone else. 

Victor. And I'm bound to dispose of it — realty as 
well as personalty, the first in a family that has practiced 
always to buy land but never to sell — an infallible way to 
get ever richer without work — after the manner, say, of 
the religious orders which Edward the First and Edward 
the Third, the great lawmakers, corrected, and whose mon- 
asteries Henry the Eighth's Cardinal Wolsey turned into 
institutions for useful education. 

Thorburn. But our ancestors 



238 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Victor. We needn't go back. I suppose the rich today 
sanctify their greed by attributing it to a desire to preserve 
the institution of the family. As a matter of fact we have 
erected in the name of the family a structure that is mak- 
ing the perpetuation of the family impossible. We cau't 
take our holdings with us and we can't exchange them for 
Heaven. Yet we let our terror at an added mill of taxation 
stifle individual ambitions, subvert national aspirations, 
keep down the public wealth, and block civilization itself. 
My immediate ancestors made me a fit object for a new 
Statute of Mortmain. Why, it was this sort of things that 
started the French Revolution, and has kept Mexico in 
perpetual warfare. Mine will not be the "dead hand" to 
hold these properties — or the shrivelled hand, either. 

Thorburn. You are only one in a thousand. 

Victor. I'm one too many ! Do you know that ninety 
per cent, of the adults who die in a community containing 
more millionaires than any other in the world leave no 
estate at all, and less than two per cent, leave ten thousand 
dollars? The American city which has most inherited 
wealth — founded on trade in slaves and rum, and other 
such honorable pursuits — and most highbrow culture, is 
now the drunkenest city in the world ! "All for a few" must 
go; "each for all" must come. Are Americans going to 
stand for this when Mexican peons won't? I am going to 
open my hand before the people pry it open with a bayonet 
— the people or a foreign foe! 

[Mary moves toward Thorburn and Victor.] 

Thorburn. You at least see one-half the danger. Our 
rich clients have come to realize it. Just as low society's 
members are identified for their more just punishment — 
an attainder, in a way, to prevent change in them — by fin- 
ger-prints, high society's babes will hereafter be known, to 
assure them fortune's favor, by the footprint. Now, I 
am your friend. I merely wish you to avoid attack 

Victor. Fortune's heirs should be adopted grown up 
on the basis of proved merit ! What do you mean, attack? 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 239 

Thoebubn. You are allied with the Merwin group. 
They have been to see me. They insist you'll cause a panic 
before readjustment can be made, and ruin innocent peo- 
ple. They pretend to be anxious about your health. 

Victor. My sanity, I suppose. Well, I'm more con- 
Tinced than ever. I never knew real happiness until I 
made up my mind to be myself, and since I have resolved 
to do without money, I have had nothing but happiness. 
A will disposing of millions to an individual should be 
upset, without other proof, for the insanity of the testator. 
My friends 

Mary. This may explain their friendship. 

[Mary hands the Bullard cablegram to Victor.] 
Victor. [Reads cablegram aloud.] 

"The Hague, June 28, 1914. 
^'WiNMER, New York. 

"Youthful suffering acute attack dementia altruistica 
Americana proposes deed of gift removing entire holdings 
from control. — See Thorburn. — Hold up deed — have com- 
mitment papers ready, and prepare Sheriff's Jury to ex- 
amine into sanity. — Signed — Bullard." The villain! 
At least, I'm not money mad — or power mad, either. The 
Sheriff's Jury had better look for the bigger fish — and the 
Sheriff's Posse, too. [Victor pauses a moment, stares at 
the telegram, raises his head, and holds the telegram 
aloft.] My God! Crooks and makers of crooks in control 
of the world's Justice! Judges of probate — politicians. 
What a chance a child has after all ! Why shouldn't infant- 
killing flourish ! With justice the pawn of politics ! 

[Mrs. Morse, Alice, and Russell come up to Vic- 
tor, Thorburn, and Mary. Thorburn appears 
to be restrained for that reason from giving a 
direct ansicer.] 

Thorburn, I drew your grandfather's will. He gave 
jour father only a life interest in the bulk of his fortune 



240 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

because he couldn't figure out how to use it himself, and 
he knew your father couldn't. He only hoped to make a 
will that could not be broken — and that was no easy task 
for one in his advanced age and circumstances. He ex- 
pressed to me the wish that a boy might get it all who 
would think of others at the beginning of his life as he 
had tried to do at the end, "not," he said, "to be minis- 
tered unto, but to minister, and to give his life as a ran- 
som for many." "Thorburn," said he, "the love of too 
much money shrivels the soul and makes it small. If my 
heir must do as I have done, better he were never born !" 

Victor. {Smiling.'] What does Bullard say to that? 

Thorburn. I fear he knows he has overreached him- 
self, and is desperate. He says he alone can prove the old 
man had his wish — that your birth certificate even is in 
his handwriting — that there never was an heir to the 
Chance estate. He forgets the family Bible. 

Victor. There wasn't any in our family. These [Victor 
indicates Alice hy his glance'] people are more to me now 
than my parents ever were. I'm sorry to say mine wasn't 
this kind of a family. 

Thorburn. What! That's what Bullard said. It 
strengthens his position ! He was the doctor ! 

Victor. Chance! I've heard inheritance called the 
modern form of fate. Big fortunes certainly have a way 

of getting sidetracked And — with all respect to the 

profession you honor by your membership, big fortunes 
make vultures of the bar. You "follow the property." 

Thorburn. Vultures gather 

Victor. Then the property would go back to the State 
anyway. The public was the only possible victim. Eh ! 

Thorburn. Yes. Private property goes hack by the 
law of escheat. But Bullard is absurd The law estab- 
lishes an overwhelming presumption in favor of a child 
born in wedlock. Bullard may be mistaken ! 

Victor. Well — less cheat and more escheat would do 
this country good. If I didn't get the old man's blood, I've 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 241 

got his spirit. No man is born marked of God to be above 
another, for none comes into the world with a saddle upon 
his back, neither any booted and spurred to ride him. Shall 
a thief's heir keep w^hat the live thief must yield and a 
patricide can't hold? I'm going to give the law of escheat a 
little exercise. Of what use is it to be heir of all the ages 
if you can't enjoy the inheritance! 

Alice. Victor would better give himself to the work, too. 

Victor. He must first set the example who would 
say "Go, thou, and do likewise." 

Mary. Plucking a single leaf never rooted up a tree. 

Mrs. Morse. That's right. Little can be done with 
money alone. The vagaries of rich men in their philan- 
thropies often suggest the need of public direction as much 
as the efforts of dangerous criminals. 

Thorburn. The strange thing about all this is that the 
graduated inheritance tax is quite orthodox and scientific. 
The curtailment oi' hoards — inter vivos and causa mortis — 
is the one feasible, constructive means of economic re- 
adjustment. 

Victor. I'll take your advice, Mr. Thorburn. 

Thorburn. I am at your service. Good day. 
[Thorburn goes out.] 

Cortright. Say, young man, what Is your name? 

Victor. Victor Chance. 

Cortright. Say, were these [Disparagingly] trinkets 
— bought in this country? 

Victor. Every one! 

Cortright. Take these things back. That name means 
something to a cop. {Pointing to Mary.] Is this lady a 
friend of yours? 

Victor. A very dear friend. 

Cortright. Well, I don't like this business. Who is 
this gentleman? 

Victor. Let me introduce you ; Mr. Cortright, this is 
Russell Turner, Acting Secretary of State of the LTnited 
States. 



242 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

CoRTRiGHT. For the love of Say, Counselor — 

can't we fix this thing up? Whose house is this? 

Russell. This is the residence of United States Sen- 
ator John Morse. 

CoRTRiGHT. And me a detective ! Say, Counselor, can't 
we fix this up? We ought to've met 'em at the dock! 

Russell. Enforce the law, Mr. Cortright. 

CORTRIGHT. Say, this is tough. I'd rather resign. 

Russell. Afterward. Don't flinch in the performance 
of your duty. 

Cortright. I'm not flinching. I'm just thinking. Say, 
Judge, these here red, white, and blue star-spangled ban- 
ners are the gifts of royal families, ain't they? 

Russell. That is so. 

Cortright. Well, you can't pay duty on those, can 
you? 

Russell. The State Department could exempt them. 

Cortright. Say, Governor, excuse the question, but 
who is this lady? 

Russell. [Russell goes up to Mary, throws his right 
arm over her shoulder, and addresses himself dramatically 
to all.] This lady — [Victor smiles] — is my wife! 

[Mary^s eyes fash gratitude up to Russell^s. All 
look from one to the other. Before anybody can 
speak, Cortright hursts out in an apology to 
Russell.] 

Cortright. Say, Mr. Secretary, I haven't any power 
in this matter. The lady is in the State Department. We 
can't collect duty on these things. On the principle of 
extraterritoriality — you know — I am violating the sov- 
ereignty of some country — my own, I guess. I'll have to 
turn this matter over to you. Excuse me. General. Good- 
bye, all. 

[Mrs. Morse busies herself to get All but Russell 
and Mary out of the room.] 

Mrs. Morse. I'll show you out. 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 243 

[Mrs. Morse, Alice, and Victor shake hands with 
CoRTRiGHT, pat him on the hack, and go out with 
him, to shotu him out. Mary and Kussell join 
in the laugh at Cortright^s attempts to square 
himself, hut as they realize that they are heing 
left alone, the look of amusement fades into one 
of tense seriousness and consciousness of the dan- 
ger of the hreaking down of restraint. During 
the following scene, it is apparent that Mary and 
Russell anticipate a sudden interruption of their 
interview.] 
Maey. Thank you, Russell. 

Russell. We will make it true to us today — and — that 
scrap of paper — it will always appear so to the world — 
even if we know it is two years late. 

Mary. I might have come back to stay before, but I 
owed it to us all to show what I could do. I owed it espe- 
cially to our boy. 

Russell. A boy ! I have not slept, from expectation, 
since I received your message. 

[Mary teases with a shade of pity.] 
Mary. My American official sleepless! Then pour 
Butterfly has completely turned the tables! 

Russell. [Accepting the thrust.] What does he look 
like? 

[Mary continues in the same mood, but quickly 
hecomes serious.] 
Mary. A young God! Look! [M.a.^y opens the locket 
and displays two pictures.] I have had your picture taken 
— his — and on his second birthday, / give it to you in this 
locket. It was — our — gem, wasn't it? 
Russell. He favors you, not me. 
Mary. Nonsense. We'll find we hoth take after him. 
The child is the real parent, after all. In them we live our 
lives anew. I first felt the stir of his life that night [point- 
ing] in there. We owe children more than they owe us ! 
Russell. He's been bereft, too, poor kiddie. We both 



244 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

know what it means. I owe him everything ; I have done 
nothing for him. There are greater duties than that of a 
man and a woman to one another. 

Mary. Oh, the lonesome days and nights away from 
him and you. Oh! the nights of singing from an aching 
heart, songs of America, of home, and fireside, of love, and 
children, among aliens, in a distant land, in my beloved, 
enthralling native tongue, and working up in me the 
exquisite pain and the dread reaction from love poured 
forth to love and hope deferred. And to sing these 
songs at Christmas. My God I such blues. Every tradi- 
tion of home and country that had come down to me from 
centuries rose up within me to make me lonesome and 
unhappy — as if our Christian holiday were the touchstone 
of true sentiment and right living. Christmas is the Holy 
Bpirit of childhood and an integral part of Duty. And 
this day, too! How deep and strong and harrowing are 
the patriotic feelings of America! How appealing to the 
better nature ! A yearning, a love, a striving, pathetically 
universal, bursting, almost, the very soul of the fond, 
weak woman who would make it all come true. With all 
my cosmopolitan veneer, and despite my complex ances- 
try, I am just a parochial little American girl, after all. 

Russell. Then you have come through the test the 
very best thing in the world. 

Mary. We both needed the test, and we stood it to» 
gether. You seemed so far and so big and so cold but the 
boy was so live and sweet and warm, there on my bosom, 
that you spoke to me wordless, through him, across the 
world. From the first, your child, nestled under my heart, 
made your heart and brain and character and spirit of 
sacrifice a part of me and, too, your little angel hanging 
on my breasts called forth all the well-springs of knowl- 
edge and sympathy and purpose that were within me, until 
I felt reproduced in me the great impulse which moves 
humanity ever onward and regulates the world. 

Russell. Mary ! 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 245 

Mary. [Bahhling.] The dear little treasure conld 
make such marvellous sounds I From the first he could 
spin a tone wonderfully ! If we could only command such 
notes I I love him so much ! 

Russell. Artist and mother I What a lullaby ! 

Mary. If children could only make their voices heard ! 

Russell. Some can ! 

Mary. Not that! He has never cried! He is a man! 
He doesn't know how to whimper any more than you do ! 

Russell. Or youl 

Mary. He made me feel my work and suffer, too. Every 
money -grasping hand, I felt gripping at my baby's throat, 
and every uncharitable or scornful glance was a dagger 
in his little heart — and that of every woman's baby in the 
world — in wedlock or out. Greater a child without mar- 
riage, than marriage without a child. Better both, of 
course. Parenthood may be a vice, but it is a vice that 
holds the parents. Society cannot tolerate — married or 
unmarried — the mistress or the rake. The married ones 
are worse. Even that kind of fish may spawn — and if 
they spawn, they spawn — tragedies. But the real child — 
society demands that — for that is its foundation. 

Russell. And I never knew 

Mary. Your wonderful letters intensified it all. They 
gave me the wisdom of the serpent and brought me all the 
knowledge of the whole earth — and they made me strong. 
I felt inspired. My whole being became instinct with a 
new and intense vitality. All the deepest, tenderest, 
strongest chords of my nature seemed keyed to the high- 
est pitch, and to be vibrating to the touch of a resistlesa 
power. Svengali was never nearer to Trilby than you 
always were to me. Even when, upon a tour, I hadn't a 
word from you, I always asked myself, on every question, 
Avhat you would say. My art was only an expression of 
your intelligence. You made me see the big facts of life! 

Russell. I put my whole being into — those letters. 

Mary. You put all — being — into — those letters. I 



246 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

read between the lines. Our love kept me from commun- 
ion with any other soul on earth. I knew I had you, and, 
being sure of that, I could do anything. At a moment's 
doubt, I'd have been in your arms in a week. But I knew 
the kind of man you are, and I have always considered 
myself your wife. I have loved you with my whole soul 
ever since I first saw you. There has been nothing in my 
life since but the thought of you and our baby, the prenatal 
forming of his soul. After a storm, did you ever see sun- 
light play upon golden grain? Well, that's what our boy 
has been to me. And now I'd have the whole world bathed 
in sunlight. 

EussELL. That is my Mary. 

Mary. The boy's name is yours; you'll be proud of 
him. If it had been — I have put no stain upon the name 
of Mary. 

Russell. I owe you my very life. For you I've had 
the great devotion my nature always craved. 

Mary. Russell, dear, loyalty in you is so strong, it is 
irrational. Few understand that. You don't realize how 
selfish I have been — enjoying your devotion and our child, 
while you — had neither of us. 

Russell. But — God! If you had not really been my 
ideal! If you had proved not to be the great woman I 
knew you to be ! If you had not been worthy of the great 
love I bear you ! But you are, and more ! Thanks to you, 
the world for me is unprofaned! You have given me my 
soul. You are the crown of womankind. [Softly.] You 
are an angel ! 

[Russell stands as if transfixed in admiratiotk 
The elevator is heard.] 

Mary. You're a dear ! You've improvised the wings. 
[Enter Senator Morse, hy the door at the left, then 
the Others.] 

Senator Morse. Hello, Alice. My dear girl — [Kisses 
Alice] — Hello, Russell. Hello, Mary. Where did you 



TEE WASTREL HOARD. 247 

disappear to? Hello, Victor. Mother, I never was so 
puzzled in all my life. 

MRS: Morse. What is it all about, John? Can I help 
you? 

Senator Morse. This Pacific matter. 

Mrs. Morse. Forget foreign affairs for a moment 
There are problems for the Home Office. 

Senator Morse. What do you mean? Nothing wrong, 
I hope. 

Mrs. Morse. Merely that your only child has been 
asked in marriage by this young man. 

Senator Morse. Have you thought it over, Alice? 

Alice. Yes, father. 

Senator Morse. [To Victor.] So that's what both- 
ered you at The Hague? What does she say, Victor? 

Victor. To tell the truth, I can't remember. I didn't 
hear her say anything. 

Mrs. Morse. Alice and I are both willing. 

Senator Morse, Now, Mother, don't you think we're 

both ? The children can make it unanimous without. 

us. 

Mrs. Morse. I should say they can. Here are your 
adopted children — {With a meaning glance at Russell 
and Mary] — secretly married this long time. 

Senator Morse. For the love of — country! I'm cer- 
tainly delighted! [Senator Morse is about to indulge in 
the formalities of congratulations ichen his present preoc- 
cupation arrests him.] Say, Russell, who sent that cable? 
Some crazy reformer, I'll bet. Well, he settled the Pacific 
question and blundered Uncle Sam into glory. We've de- 
cided to do what the dafaned fool said. 

Mrs. Morse. John, dear. 

Russell. What do you mean? 

Senator Morse. We were all at the Metropolitan 
Club, the Secretary of State and the Party Managers, 
fighting about this thing. We got a telephone call from 
the Speaker of the House. He said a conference had 



248 THE WASTREL HOARD^ 

decided that the best thing to do was to have Congress 
throw the Canal open free of tolls of the whole world, to 
make a virtue of a necessity, and to save our face as a 
nation. The only exception is we may exclude any nation 
entirely as an act of war. 

Russell. Well, that really won't cost the nation a dol- 
lar — even in that dollars and cents system of reckoning 
which the great republic shares with the individual hold- 
ers of its surplus wealth. Experts have worked that out. 

Senator Morse. Why, it's cheap as advertising I Better 
than our return of the indemnity millions to China. It 
makes us moral leaders of the world ! 

Mary. The centre of the Empire of the Spirit — the New 
Empire of the World. 

Russell. And it will not only brins; the Suez trade 
this way, but will keep England from building a compet- 
ing and parallel canal across Colombia. 

Senator Morse. Or Nicaragua. 

Russell. And we'll soon lay the ghost of the British 
shipping. The administration has a tariff preference plan 
that will force every foreign ship that comes here to come, 
at the option of a Tariff Board, under the American flag! 
And the American market, the greatest iu the world, is no 
longer to be given away, but to be used as a common 
national possession to induce and coerce nations into hu- 
manity and peace. What will Bullard's crowd say? They 
control Congress — a compact majority. This hold-up was 
to be the crowning glory of his life. 

Senator Morse. Well, Bullard telephoned immediate- 
ly afterward, and begged me to agree on that very thing. 
^'It'll be all right," he said. And we did, and it's all over. 

Mary. Bully for you. Uncle John ! Bully for you ! 

Senator Morse. Mother. You ought to have been at 
The Hague. It was very dramatic. 

Mary. Mother was there — in reality. A projected per- 
sonality — even across the world — is often more potent than 
one bodily present. Don't you think so, Russell? 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 249 

Russell. Yes. Yes. I do. I do. 

Mrs. Morse. The oak has fallen; the violet prevails. 
The gamblers are wrecked in their own system. 

Russell. I am sorry for Bullard. 

Mary. There's something yet to explain. Bullard 
never quits. 

Senator Morse. He is fond of Russell, Mary. 

Mary. Well — so is everybody. 

Senator Morse. Should you like to hear what he said? 

Mary. Of course. [Reminisoing.l He is so resource- 
ful! 

Senator Morse. His words were these : "I win, Sen- 
ator. It is my victory. This girl has done my life work 
for me. She's a good deal smarter than I am, and when I 
once see a cold, hard fact, I take off my hat to it. It'll be 
all right. I telephoned to Thorburn. Her way is better 
than my way." In token of surrender, he sends you this 
note. "Tell her," he said, "that I have searched the record 
and examined the cables both ways — and," [Senator Morse 
smiles] he said,— "it'll be all right. [Mary reads Bullard's 
note.] She has made my boy." And "Tell him I've re- 
nounced King Alcohol! She has made me, too!" 

[At the recurrence of Bullard's phrase, ''my hoy'' 
Mary looks at Russell, studies his features, and 
seems overtaken hy a sudden conviction. She 
speaks with some sense of the triple application 
of her words, hut none the less hewildered.] 

Mary. [Taking a step toivard the picture of ''Street 
Lily Earle."] He says his name should be on my certificate, 
too. 

[Russell looks at her as if to learn the application 
of what she is saying. Her eyes flash that she has 
something to tell him.] 

Senator Morse. [As if helieving that he understands.] 



250 TEE WASTREL HOARD. 

Yes, indeed. "And/' said Bullard, "she has made me, too. 
It'll be all right." 

Mary. I'm sorry he lost his money. [Mary looks at 
EussELL.] There's something good in that man. The 
world has had enough of telling how bad people are ; what 
it needs is a little more telling why; then big and little 
can unite in removing the cause. 

Senator Morse. It'll be all right. They've been sup- 
porting the market to get out. 

EussELL. Gamblers? Always on a sure thing? And 
they gagged the newspapers. The public hasn't heard a 
word. 

[Mary goes up to Eussell.] 

Mary. {Continuing to look at Eussell.] There's 
something good in that man. 

\^She feels in the envelope and takes out the locket 
which Bullard has sent. She turns away, opens 
it, pauses a moment as if recalling a fugitive mem- 
ory, turns to the picture of '^Sweet Lily Earle/' 
then to Eussell^ gives a start as if to embrace 
him and collapse, hut controls herself.] 

Eussell. What is it? 

Mary. [Tc all] That is our secret. Ours — ^and Fos- 
ter Bullard's. 

Senator Morse. Well, I'd like to meet the man who 
Bent that cable. I'd like to shake him by the hand. He 
saved my political life. That seems to be the world's "dark 
secret" iust now ! 

Mary. No man ever sent that cable. 

Senator Morse. Oh ! A woman ! I suppose you'll an* 
bounce next it was Mrs. Havorbee. 

Mary. That cablegram was never sent. 

Senator Morse. What do you mean? It sent itself 
I suppose. 

Mary. Almost. Gulp is a friend of mine. I wrote i< 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 251 

out, and he just handed it to you. You see, I was your 
secretary, and you handed it to yourself. Say nothing. 
Deny the rumor, and you are famous. 

Senator Morse. Well, by Jove ! I believe the future'U 
prove it so. "Were you the doctor and I knew you not?" 

Mary. Alienist I That's what I've been waiting for in 
Europe. I thought the Hague Tribunal would never meet. 

Senator Morse. I might have known it. What ever 
possessed you? [Mary smiles at the question.] What 
gi'eat motive ? - c- ' ^'^'^' 

Mary. One more imperious than empires or coali- 
tions — [Mary turns to Mrs. Morse] — one that mothers 
know — [Mary turns to Senator Morse] — and fathers, too. 
It is the commonest thing in the world, and the one most 
completely overlooked. Woman's love and faith and char- 
ity are the motives of that great, imperious impulse by 
which nature is trying to rule this world and perpetuate 
the human soul. Individual self-control and the govern- 
ance of the world are themselves in embryo. Purposeless, 
alcoholic, surrender to the great sex myth, based upon the 
absurd assumption that human nature is evil, or that love 
can be impure or ungenerous, is the world's greatest curse, 
and the real cause of all the other curses. Society's chil- 
dren seem unsought and undesired, and the one purpose of 
organization seems to be to kill off the whole great future 
in embryo. The pity of it that the higher impulse must ever 
be discouraged or condemned. All conscious conception is 
immaculate ; there is no original sin ; and what God has not 
imposed man should not assume. A woman's body and 
a man's are — their very souls ! Creation is from God and 
it is divine. It Is the thing and the only thing that kills 
wantonness and makes love pure. The higher modesty is 
the peculiar inheritance of our race. It is our duty to un- 
derstand it, respect it, make it sacred, and have it raised 
out of the darkness of ignorance and mystery in its true 
dignity as patriotic impulse and made the true basis of 
society, its government, and its provision for the general 



252 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

welfare. In the little child is the hope of nations and the 
crowning glory of the world. It is the great thing the sexes 
have in common — the greatest common interest in the 
world, the greatest social interest and the most far-reaching 
— great enough to unite all humankind. A land that does 
not care for its children cares little for its future. That is 
the great lesson humanity has yet to learn and America 
must learn it to fulfill its mission to establish the reign of 
justice and redeem the world. 

Senator Morse. Mary, with that simple philosophy, 
you have done more for Russell than Bullard, with all 
their money, could have done. 

Mary. Russell did it. [Mary ZooA^s a^ Russell.] And 
Bullard was the original cause, after all. [Mary smiles 
enigmatically.] Well, the world must look up, in the fu 
ture, to men who watch and ward other people's — boys. 

Senator Morse. [As if to himself.] It was love work- 
ing regeneration. 

Mary. [With a very fond look at Russell.] It was 
just a woman's work — that's all. 

Victor. You have beaten Bullard to a frazzle. When 
Dewey cut the cable 

Alice. They gave him a house. 

Victor. Mary'U take the White House 

Senator Morse. And you have made Russell. 

Mary. I haven't finished yet. A woman's work is 
never done. I believe I'll tackle Bullard. [Mary looks 
very fondly at Russell.] There's a lot of good in that man. 

[Russell always seems to agree with Mary's praise 
of Bullard.] 

Senator Morse. He's for Russell already. I must 

Mary. [With an amused look at Russell.] I know 
that better than any of you. He might consent to lead the 
opposition. That would help. And I know that Bullard 
is capable of a great personal sacrifice. 

Sbnatok MoBSfi. Worse! men than Russell have occu- 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 253 

pied the White House, Mary. That was always Bullard'a 
idea. 

Mary. [Laughing with Senator Morse and, toithout 
his knowing it, at him.] For his "hoy." 

Senator Morse. [Laughing and the victim of his own 
laugh on Bullard.] Yes, his "boy." Well, we'll help him. 
"It'll be all right." 

Victor. If you want a campaign fund 

[Mary goes up to Victor and places her right hand 
on his left shoulder as Victor had done to Bul- 
lard in the third act. Victor reciprocates.] 

Senator Morse. What political party do you repre- 
sent? I wonder! 

Russell. "I represent a party which does not as yet 
exist, the party of revolution, of civilization. This party 
will mold the twentieth century." 

Mary. High aims have but one ultimate authority, the 
welfare of humanity. My mind sees now a little white 
house for everybody in the world. 

[The library chime strikes twelve times.] 

Victor. Mine does now, with fortune knocking at 
least once at every man's door. 

Mary. And the crimes of poverty abolished. 

Victor. Yes, and of drunkenness and disease — and 
greed 

[The desk clock strikes twelve times, beginning 6e* 
tween the ninth and the tenth chime.] 

Mart. With their train 

Victor, -—of long-lived sufferings, to the innocent. 

Mary. And a wider view of life in which individual 
interests become merged with those of humanity. 

Victor. And for every man those moments when we 
catch a glimpse of God. 

Mary. The God above him 



254 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Victor. — and the God within — and feels the joys and 
sorrows of all peoples as of his own. 

Mary. Charity is 

Victor. — the one luxury which civilized society can 
well afford. 

Mary. A little warmth in social relations 

Victor. — will make the artificial warmth of alcoholic 
poison superfluous. 

Mary. Charity is justice. 

Victor. Both are public functions and to be effective 
their execution should be universal, instant, and over- 
whelming. 

Mary. We may not do much with the evil of the pres- 
ent generation 

Victor. It will perpetuate itself — unto the third and 
fourth generation, perhaps — when nature, in its relentless 
logic, brings it to an end with the breed. 

Mary. Most of the* present generation would have to 
be born, again. 

Victor. And born different. Eh! 

Mary. Quite! A new humanity is born and a new 
world comes into being every time the sun 

Victor. . — rises on our selfish provision for the present 
day. 

Mary. We pay so much attention to the past • 

Victor. That we appear bent on walking into the 
future backwarn. 

Mary. We and our times are unimportant and our 
plans for ourselves are barren and unwise. 

Victor. But if we work with the coming generation, 
the good will radiate forever. 

Mary. And in the children 

Victor. — will be carried onward the American spirit 
that can never die. 

Mary. Follies and vices of the people are 

Victor. — encouraged by the powers that prey. A 
Tirtuous race will be free. 



THE WAi^TREL HOARD. 255 

Mary. And its lusty children, the universal solvent, 
will spread more health 

Victor. — than all the millions of our philanthropic 
oppressors, with their expiations, can redeem. 

Mary. When everyone takes the easiest way, fate piles 
evil upon evil — and 

Victor. — when one takes the bravest and the best 
way, fate is balked and good piles up eternally. 

Mary. There is no wealth but life. 

Victor. And a nation is composed not of property or 
of provinces, but of men. 

Mary. The vital industry of any people 

Victor. — is the culture of racial life. 

Mary. If the successful of this generation bring up 
their children to follow out their success 

Victor. — the next generation won't be fit to live 
among. 

Mary. There must be a new Declaration of Independ- 
ence! 

Victor. And a new Emancipation Proclamation! 

Mary. Revolutions should not be left to terrorists 

Victor. They should be carried out by the best and 
most virtuous of the race. 

Mary. You have learned your lesson — and mine, too. 

[They smile and separate.] 

Victor. I have tried. 

Mary. {Drawing out the little American flag and 
pointing loith it in an equivocal manner to one of the 
A merican flags in the decoration of the room.] One Amer- 
ican child brought up to be a parent under that flag is 
worth more than regiments of parents imported from 
abroad. 

[Victor goes up to Alice^ and Victor and Alich 
smile at one another.] 

Alice. Now, you are just as I wish you to be. 



256 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Victor. Mary made me — [Victor pauses, as if real- 
izing the danger of such an assertion^ smiles^ and corrects 
himself] — to your order. 

[Alice smiles at Victor.] 

Alice. Thanks for that, Victor. I'll assume I did it all. 

Senator Morse. [To Mary.] I told Russell you would 
be a tonic for him. 

Mary. [Going up to Mrs. Morse.] Russell shares our 
wholesome fear of anything too tonic. [To Mrs. Morse.] 
You darling ! 

[The clock above strikes twelve.] 

Mary. All these clocks, Senator! What terrible re- 
minders! Mercy! IB.OW striking! 

Alice. They've been striking about you for an hour. 
We are used to them and don't notice them. 

Mary. I didn't hear them until now. Our infinite ca- 
pacity for indifference ! And we see a smaller proportion 
of what is about us than we hear. 

Senator Morse. Souvenirs, Mary — only a few of them 
— of the Sheriff's Jury dinners — fifty dollars a plate — each 
of the three "Panels" — free tickets to the gang — hundreds 

of them — paid for by the Jurors 

[As Senator Morse rattles on, amusement groics, 
until Victor interrupts with a laugh.] 

Victor. Hold on, Senator. You needn't tell the rest. 
Mary and I are going to abolish the Sheriff's Jury, too. 
Eh! 

[Mary begins to yield to the strain of her efforts, 
and the woman becomes ccidcnt.] 

Mary. What good friends you are ! I know how intel- 
ligent you have been. [To Mrs. Morse.] Tou are the 
best-bred woman I have ever known. You have under- 
stood 

Mrs. Morse. It's because I have a good husband. 
[Mrs. Morse turns to the others.] I know Mary has had 
a great deal of trouble, more than she would care to tell 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 257 

about. Any other girl in her place would have faded away 
and died. 

(Senator Morse. Would melt like a lighted candle. 

Mary. Without handing down the lamp of life? Who 
could snuff it out! Love doesn't let us melt away. 

Senator Morse. No! You can't kill character. The 
history of nations shows 

[Senator Morse and Mrs. ^Morsb join hands, face 
and smile at one another. Alice and Victor join 
hands. Then all look at Russell and Mary.] 

Mrs. Morse. Forget history, John. My heart told me 
that from the first you were meant for one another. And 
your faith has proved that. 

Russell. My brave girl. I'll take any future with 
you. "Good fortune's mark 's upon thy face!'' 

[Russell and Mary joiii hands and smile at one 
another.] 

Mary. It's all luck. I am the luckiest girl in the 
world. 

Russell. You waved fortune aside. You didn't take 
it 

Mary. I didn't know I could — not all — until The 
Hague. Your devotion lived on nothing; mine had every- 
thing a woman craves. 

Russell. There is no bravery but unselfishness. You 
gave up everything unquestioningly to spare sorrow to an- 
other woman. 

Senator Morse. 'Greater love hath no woman than 
this, that she give up all for another." 

[The chime in the hall 'below strikes twelve times 
with impressive intervals, the last word being 
spoken on the eleventh stroke, the twelfth stroke 
being heard as the curtain descends.] 

Mary. [To Russell.] Those who love think they give 
up everything, but misfortune brings character down to 



258 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

bedrock and character is the greatest thing in the world. 
Russell, dearest, it's all your own work. Whitman was 
not so impractical, after all I Some give nothing, but take 
everything; some take nothing for themselves and give all 
to others. You have risen 

Russell. I never felt more humble. Bullard wished 
so much to be good to me. 

Mary. Russell, dear, you're great. Your fixed idea ! 
He wished to make '"^his hoy" what he couldn't be himself I 

Russell. May I kiss you now? 

[Flint enters quietly, comes up to Mary. She smiles 
at him, hut beckons to him to wait.] 

Mary. [With a curtsey.] Sir, I am ready to honor my 
father 

Flint. [With a suggestion of the great quotcr.] "Who 
will command with kindness." [Softening.] I am getting 
old now and / want Mary to look after me. 

Mary. [With a curtsey to Russell.] — and obey my 
husband. Just as you said, hybrid will be high-bred ! 

Russell. [Conscious of going Flint one better.] Who 
will support your ambitions, and — command with love. 
[Russell kisses Mary.] That's what women want. 

Alice. Uncle Sam, that is what children need. [To 
Mary.] Mary, dear! You will never know how glad / 
am that you are safely — married I 

Mary. Nor you how glad / am ! 

Flint. [Brings Senator Morse and Russell together, 
puts an arm, over the shoulder of each, and pats Russell on 
the shoulder.] My son! The friendship of Uncle John is 
the only guarantee of a man required by Uncle Sam ! 

Senator Morse. [Patting Flint on the back.] There 
do come times when Uncle Sam feels that he must lean a 
little on his children. 

[All but Russell and Mary move off to group about 
Flint, to explain the situation to him.] 

Russell. (Noting the opportunity.] I may — now I 

Mary. [Beticeen kisses.] Don't! — ever!! — stop!!! 



THE WASTREL HOARD. 259 

Russell. [In a low tone, to Maey.] And the boy? 
The little stranger? 

Maey. [To Russell, in a low tone.] He's waiting for 
us. And he'll never leave us again. [Maey goes to Flint 
and kisses him, then looks at the others, ^he speaks with 
sudden resolution.'] I am very happy, and I wish every- 
body in the world to be happy, too — even Mr. BuUard. I 
wish we could have him with us — I just want to sing to 
him. Things look different to all of us, now. [To all, in 
a hurst of enthusiasm.] We'll all go back home together. 
''Home, Sweet Home.'' That's the only "Palace of Peace." 
[Mary and Russell embrace. Mary goes up to Mrs. 
Morse and rests her head on Mrs. Morsels breast, and 
throtcs her arms about Mrs. Morse's neck.] Yon old- 
fashioned mother — you are the mainstay of the Ship of 
State — the Rock of Ages of the World. We're most of us 
old-fashioned— women — at heart. And they are the safest 
diplomats— the Guardians of the World's Peace — of 
Mind. I am glad I've found myself out. [Looking with a 
meaning smile at Russell.] Before it was too late. But 
now — well — it'll be all right. 

[Mrs. Morse leads the others out with manifest 
tact.] 

Russell. [Assuring himself by a glance that the others 
have gone.] Now that we are alone, say once more the 
last word of pardon. Mary, forgive me. 

Mary. [Fluttering to Russell's embrace.] I can't — 
I can't. I can only love you. [Mary throws herself into 
Russell^s arms. After a moment Mary draws away gent- 
ly, takes Russell's hands in hers, and smiles playfully.] 
I fear you'll often be wretched with your temperamental 
wife. 

Russell. [Teasing.] 

"Call not the man wretched. 
Who, whatever he suffers. 
Has a child to love." 



260 THE WASTREL HOARD. 

Maby. [Taking refuge in BussiiLL^s arms again.\ But 
you have to love me, too ! 

BussELL. I will. That, also, will be all right. 

Mart. Love me for him, too. 

BussBLL. True woman, wife, and mother, I'll love you 
843 I love my country ; I'll love you for all mankind. 



EPILOGUK 



Then, 

Woman, 
Here's 
to 
Childhood! 

Way to salvation, happiness, and avatar. 
And to humanity, heaven, and eternity, 
Your inheritance from all the past. 
So greater than the richest hoard 
That none with it can you afford, 
Lest hoard not you shall everlast. 
Surviving in a dead posterity, 
Lacklustered as a fallen star. 

Then, 

Woman, 
Here's 
to 

Childhood 1 



CUBTAIN. 



